Wembley Stadium will host an international friendly between England and Cymru on Thursday evening, with kick-off scheduled for 19:45 BST.
Cymru head coach Craig Bellamy has highlighted the challenge posed by England’s squad depth, saying that a boxing promoter would never pit his side against the Three Lions.
“England have a ridiculous squad, like France,” Bellamy said. “They have a transfer market value of £1.4bn, ours is £170m. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn’t put us together. It wouldn’t be allowed.”
Bellamy’s men will face the Three Lions at Wembley before returning to World Cup qualifying action next Monday against Belgium.
The Cymru boss pointed out the sheer number of quality players available to England manager Thomas Tuchel, who has left stars such as Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of the squad for the friendly and the subsequent qualifier against Latvia.
“We don’t go off values, but the simple fact is they don’t just have one team. They have two, three, four and France and others have the same level. England have loads of great players and that’s the honest truth. One right-back went out injured the other day and there’s only 24 more to go! They’ve got 60-odd players. I’d love us to be stacked like them,” Bellamy added.
The neighbouring nations last met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where England ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in a group stage encounter before Gareth Southgate’s side progressed to the quarter-finals.
Tuchel, who succeeded Southgate as England manager, brings a wealth of experience to the role. The former Chelsea boss, who has won the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup and domestic titles in both France and Germany, is regarded as a tactically astute operator.
Bellamy, who previously served as an assistant to Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht and Burnley, spoke of the challenge of facing Tuchel. “Tuchel’s an incredible manager – his record is proven,” he said. “I have some sort of an insight because the club he left I know people who have gone in there. I get a bit of an insight there of how he works and it’s very impressive. His tactical detail is top level and I wanted to be up against that – see how you’re going to adapt because he will. I will get to learn from that. I’d love to get to that level.”
Cymru squad for Wembley friendly
Goalkeepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton)
Defenders: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Rodon (Leeds United), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest)
Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester City, on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City)
Forwards: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City, on loan from Liverpool), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City)
Coverage
The match will be shown live on S4C, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, as well as on the BBC Sport website and app, with live text commentary available throughout.
