The day after Craig Bellamy smiled and apologised to a Turkish translator for rambling his way to the end of an answer, his passion for the Wales job spilled over on to the pitch. In the buildup there was an understandable, first-day-at-school nervous energy to Bellamy and no wonder his excitement given the buzz his team emitted. Officially, this was a Nations League opener against a team four places above them in the rankings but, in simple terms, it was Bellamy’s first examination as a manager.
There was still a touch of the old Bellamy – the fourth official Sigurd Kringstad was never too far from a glare – but he will have been chuffed with this showing. As first impressions go, this was a resounding if not imperfect performance against a Turkey team who played more than 35 minutes with 10 men after Baris Alper Yilmaz was sent off.
Bellamy has made compelling listening since taking the job in July and his team put forward a convincing case for his methods. By half-time, Wales had registered twice as many passes as Turkey, almost twice as many touches, five shots to the visitors’ one and just shy of 70% possession. Wales rendered Turkey, quarter-finalists at Euro 2024, to training mannequins for much of a one-sided first half, as if this was an extension of training. On this evidence it was hard to believe Bellamy’s first session with his players was on Monday, after which Bellamy and his staff laid on meetings to hammer home the plan, which was abundantly clear here.
Bellamy, in pristine white trainers and a black bomber jacket, was itching to get started back in familiar surroundings. This game, he said, was the start of a new story for him and his country. His final game as a player was here 10 years ago, for boyhood club Cardiff City against Chelsea, for whom Mohamed Salah starred and Fernando Torres got the winner. The star forward was the only obvious missing piece for Bellamy, whose side attacked with five players high up the pitch, the captain Aaron Ramsey, Jordan James and Harry Wilson operating centrally, flanked by Brennan Johnson and Sorba Thomas, a surprise inclusion. Thomas, who joined Nantes last month, was busy on his first appearance since March last year and his first start since June 2022. Thomas sent a shot wide seconds into the second half.
Thomas saw a first-half dinked goal disallowed for a tight offside but otherwise Ramsey had Wales’s best openings. At the end of a slick move that began with Johnson backheeling the ball to Connor Roberts, from the subsequent cross Ramsey’s attempted header clinked off his left shoulder and went over the bar. Ramsey then went close to converting Thomas’s low corner at the front post. Ethan Ampadu rattled a shot against a stanchion. Wales appeared to be enjoying themselves, so too the supporters. Bellamy cut a happy figure from the moment Ben Davies, playing left-centre back, arrowed a cutting diagonal pass into space for Johnson to gallop on to. Bellamy offered Davies a hearty thumbs-up.
Wales did not renege but Yilmaz mustered Turkey’s first meaningful effort, sending a weak header on to the roof of Danny Ward’s net. There were a nervy couple of moments for Ward, who these days is very much a reserve goalkeeper at Leicester. Bellamy acknowledged it would be crazy to expect everything to click on his first night but there were plenty of incisive attacks. Ramsey freed Wilson with a zipped first-time pass close to halfway but Johnson could not arrange his feet hastily enough and sent a first-time shot off target. A minute later Wilson sent a curling left-foot strike inches wide of Mert Gunok’s goal, almost lifting Bellamy off his feet.
Soon after arrived the Red Wall’s first ode to Bellamy as they chanted the name of their beloved former player and now manager, who succeeded his former teammate, Rob Page. On the face of it Wales’s task then got a whole lot easier, with Yilmaz sent off for a second yellow card after a late tackle on Neco Williams. Yilmaz’s first booking came in the first half after seeking a contretemps with Joe Rodon. The substitutions were attacking, the experienced Sheffield United striker Kieffer Moore and the Liverpool teenager Lewis Koumas arriving in place of Ramsey and Thomas.
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Within minutes of being introduced Moore found himself in the wars, an innocuous collision ending with Caglar Soyuncu’s studs in his face. Moore returned to the pitch with a bandage tape wrapped around his head amid a roar from the locals. Turkey could have snatched victory late on through Abdulkerim Bardakci but his header from a corner was straight at Ward. There were eight added minutes in which Johnson shanked wide and Ampadu attempted an overhead kick but Wales had to settle for a point an entertaining evening.
