THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
Considering Cymru head coach Craig Bellamy is so patriotic that he lives in a house constructed entirely of Fragrant Spring daffodil bulbs, thinks the long-running BBC soap opera Pobol y Cwm is a documentary and has Dafydd Iwan’s stirring anthem Yma o Hyd as his ringtone, it was no surprise he was impressed by the journey undertaken by Wales fan John McAllister to get to his nation’s World Cup qualifier in Kazakhstan. Currently sitting second in Group J, a point behind North Macedonia but with Belgium three points further back with two games in hand, Wednesday afternoon’s match in Astana is a fairly must-win one for Wales. Anything less than three points would prove a crushing disappointment for McAllister, who set off for the Kazakh capital from Barry five weeks ago and has taken in 11 football matches, no end of foreign boozers, a heavy metal gig and some Irish stranger’s stag do as he travelled around 5,000 kilometres east across four time zones and 12 countries on a series of 17 trains, 11 buses and one plane (a flight he’d rather have not taken but was unable to avoid).
“We’ve got to see him, because it means so much to us,” said Bellamy of McAllister’s bonkers odyssey. “I’m beyond proud of that fact.” While super-fan McAllister may kick himself when he discovers he could have just taken a direct flight from Cardiff to Astana like the Wales team, he is likely to receive a hero’s welcome from around 1,000 fellow supporters who took a far less circuitous and comparatively unadventurous route to Astana. “To see how they all get on with each other as well,” said Bellamy, beaming with pride at the devotion of his bucket hat-wearing brethren. “They look after each other, they’re well behaved but they enjoy themselves. We want to be like that, we want to play like that.” While Celtic’s Bigger Cup exit at the hands of Kairat Almaty last week proved that teams from far-flung European outposts don’t always have it their own way when they visit Astana, the current incarnation of Wales should realistically expect to beat a team 83 places below them in the Fifa rankings and one who they have already seen off in Cardiff. For the first time in 15 years, the Welsh team is also likely to be boosted by the rare inclusion of representation from Hollywood FC.
“I think we’re all captivated by the journey of Wrexham,” trilled Bellamy of the plucky rag-tag assortment of churchmice and underdogs from the Racecourse Ground who spent over £30m on 13 players in the recent transfer window. “It’s been amazing for Welsh football and hopefully now in a number of years we’ll see young players coming through. Surely, whether it’s Swansea, Newport, Cardiff, Wrexham, the better they do the better chance we have of being a stronger nation in football.” While Danny Ward and Nathan Broadhead will miss out against Kazakhstan with knack, along with Leeds defender Joe Rodon, the in-form Wrexham striker Kieffer Moore is likely to feature and it is to be hoped the 6ft 5in target man was afforded plenty of leg-room on the eight-hour flight over.
after newsletter promotion
QUOTE OF THE DAY
I am definitely used to playing in hot temperatures now in Italy” – recalled England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek reckons he can handle the heat – which is handy given Thomas Tuchel’s side may have to play in dangerously scorching conditions at the Geopolitics World Cup next year.
I only read Big Website of course (ahem) but I did chance upon this piece in yesterday’s Estadios de España on Atlético Madrid’s B team and their new stadium. Yes, it’s international fortnight and I’m bored already. Apparently, in 1999, they finished second in the Segunda División but obviously couldn’t be promoted to La Liga as Atlético Madrid were already there. And, to make things worse, just a year later, Atlético Madrid were relegated to the Segunda División in 2000 so the B team were forced to go down into the third tier!” – Noble Francis.
The photo of Arsenal players celebrating their 1971 FA Cup win (yesterday’s Memory Lane – full email edition) was well captioned. The only info missing was, who is that dude in the background giving off Saturday Night Fever vibes? We deserve to know” – Jim Scullion.
I can’t tell you how relieved I am to finally see the back of the transfer window. My brain was so saturated with rumours, cliches and transfer jargon that I lost the ability to distinguish between a deal sheet and a sh!t deal. I simply couldn’t deal with this sheet anymore” – Peter Oh.
If you have any, please send letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Peter Oh. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED BOOKING
On Thursday 11 September, join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and Football Weekly favourites Jonathan Wilson, Nicky Bandini and Jonathan Liew for an evening of unfiltered football punditry at Troxy in London. The pod will also be livestreamed globally. Book now.
