Craig Bellamy says he is determined for Cymru to build momentum and put their June record right as preparations begin for a testing UEFA Nations League campaign.
Cymru entertain Ghana at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday night (7.45pm), before travelling to Bucharest to face Romania on Saturday in a double-header.
The two matches form part of preparations for life in League A of the UEFA Nations League, where Cymru will face Portugal, Norway and Denmark later this year.
The Black Stars have already secured their place at this summer’s FIFA World Cup and will face England, Croatia and Panama in the group stage. Despite the excitement around the opposition, Bellamy has been clear that his focus is on Cymru’s own standards and improving their record during this period.
“When I look at our record in June, June friendlies or June competitive games, it’s nowhere near good enough,” he admitted. “If you want to be a serious nation, you have to address that.
“People say qualifiers don’t happen in June, but they do. Our record at this time of year is nowhere near where it should be, so we have to correct it.
“If you think you’re coming here to wind down, you’re wrong. If you think, as an association, you can cut corners because they’re only two friendlies, you’re wrong. That doesn’t work, so we have to change that.
“That’s all the motivation I need. We have to get this June record sorted out. A top team can’t have a record like this in June, so we need to correct it.”
Recently appointed Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz will oversee his first trip to Cymru, bringing with him a squad packed with international experience and Premier League pedigree. Bellamy believes the challenge presented by Ghana, and later Romania, is exactly what his side need as they continue to evolve.
“They’re a team from a different continent and a team that have already qualified for the World Cup,” he said.
“We’ve got a reasonably good idea on the history of how Carlos [Queiroz] has managed and the teams he’s already had. “He might be completely different because Ghana were playing a completely different way to how he sets a team up, or he might go back to that, so we’ll find out tomorrow.
“I quite like that because we will have to adapt. There is no shape he’s going to be able to play that we haven’t played against, so we definitely have the solutions.
“How quick we can move into those solutions is good. We can’t waste half a game trying to work something out. It’s literally a minute, two minutes.
“It’s going to test us, and the same in Romania as well with a new manager. It’s good as it allows us to be very adaptable. For us, it’s about a lot of what we do and that never changes.”
Cymru v Ghana
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