CARDIFF — Craig Bellamy says Wales' comeback victory over Norway has "thrown a hand grenade" into Nations League Group A4 as his side prepare to face Denmark in Cardiff on Sunday (19:45). Wales remain bottom of the group despite Thursday's morale-boosting win, but are level on points with Norway and Denmark at the halfway stage, with Portugal clear at the top.
"I don't know with the way the group's gone now because that [result] has thrown in a hand grenade," Bellamy said. "Basically, the group's exploded now between the three of us because, obviously, Denmark will look at it and say, well, they didn't expect that, so we all sit on three points apart from Portugal. Portugal have run away with this, and they're going to win the group unless a disaster happens. Now can we really be in the mix with these two heavyweight Scandinavian teams? That's the aim."
Wales came from behind against Norway to register their first Nations League A win across two campaigns in the competition's top tier. The result ended a six-match winless run stretching back to November 2025, with Bellamy admitting after the game he had been through a "really difficult spell" since taking charge in July 2024 following Rob Page's departure. Facing a Denmark side ranked 21st in the world, Bellamy stressed consistency: "We have to perform like we did against Norway. That's all I'm thinking about again - consistency and perform, perform, perform."
The stakes extend beyond survival in League A. If Wales finish third or higher they will be a top seed in December's draw for Euro 2028 qualifying, a prize Bellamy said he is "definitely conscious" of. "We see [the level when] we're playing against teams who are pot one, so if we don't have to play another pot one, then it's nice," he added. "It's a real motivation, of course. That would really help us."
Bellamy, who regularly makes significant changes regardless of results, confirmed he will be forced into alterations for the final game of this new four-match international window. Karl Darlow, Joe Rodon, Dylan Lawlor and Harry Wilson are absent, while David Brooks returned to his club after the opening defeat in Portugal. "If I could pick the team that started the other night, [I would] all day," Bellamy said. "[But it is] just not possible. One or two didn't come through it. So, not giving away the team, of course, but there will be one or two changes because we have to." Wales meet Denmark for the second time in seven days after a dispiriting defeat in Copenhagen last weekend, where Bellamy said he "didn't recognise" his team. "We were too disconnected from front to back. We didn't create the overloads. It was too easy for [Denmark] to press us. Five men could press seven of our players - that's impossible. We learned a lot; I learned a lot from Denmark."