Cymru U21 head coach Matty Jones has called on his squad to claim a first-ever victory against Belarus and get their qualification campaign back on track as the two nations prepare to meet at Rodney Parade on Friday, 27 March (KO 5:30pm).
The Group I match marks the start of the second half of the campaign for Cymru and the side will then head to Denmark for another difficult encounter at the Vejle Stadium on Tuesday, 31 March (KO 5:00pm BST). Despite an impressive 2-0 win away to Austria in October, Cymru are currently bottom of the group with four games remaining.
“You know, we’ve never beaten Belarus in an U21 fixture, ever,” explained Jones to FAW.cymru as he announced his squad this week. “If that’s not enough motivation then I don’t know what is. That’s definitely my carrot and that’s what I’ll be dangling in front of the players as we’ve got an opportunity to rectify that in this window.”
Cymru suffered a 3-0 defeat against Belarus in Georgia last November. “I think from our perspective it’s about making sure that we’re adhering to the game plan first and foremost,” Jones added. “We’ve done many case studies in terms of areas that we can expose the weaknesses of Belarus, and that’s exciting.
Gabriele Biancheri celebrates his opening goal for Cymru U21 against Austria in October
“The key is to try and expose their weaknesses and take advantage of them, and that’s something we didn’t do last time. We weren’t clinical enough. We had opportunities early in the game, but then as the game grew, we found it hard to break them down. They defended for their lives and made it really, really difficult. Now we’re playing the same opponent at home, so the onus is of course with us.”
George Nevett, Alex Williams and Evan Watts all return to the 23-player squad together with Rhys Thomas following his recovery from an injury that has kept him out of contention since last June. There are also first call-ups for Oliver Bostock, Elliot Myles and defender Aled Thomas.
“It a decision about when to challenge these players in the right environments,” Jones explained. “There’s been really good collaboration between myself and Chris Gunter (MU19 head coach), and involving Craig Bellamy as well, in terms of making these decisions about what’s right for the players to give them that exposure and potential game time in this U21 campaign.
“There’s a constant evolution of this squad and there’s constantly been movement to provide an opportunity for the high-potential players. We’ve got super talent right throughout the age groups and this provide a wonderful opportunity for people to come in and impress both on and off the pitch. There’s an excitement about getting to work with the players and rectify and repair from November.
“The biggest thing for us is that we’ve had time to reflect and be the best prepared we can be going into this window. We’ve got numerous players now playing and sustaining their positions in first team environments at their clubs, which is a must for us as a national team. I’ve been watching that closely through the monitoring of our players.”
Despite suffering three defeats from the opening four games, Jones is confident that the right atmosphere exists within the group to put things right. “We’ve always got this ethos of brotherhood,” he explained. “It’s the players who create that themselves and they protect it. We’ve spoken about a no blame culture when we go through trauma and hopefully that will turn into success on the pitch more consistently.”
Cymru began the qualifying campaign with a 6-2 defeat against Denmark at Rodney Parade last October despite taking a two-goal lead. “There’s no deny the fact that they’re a super strong outfit,” said Jones. “Every team in this group has been super competitive and that’s been quite hard for us to manage at time. But we are maturing and we are developing as a group of players.
“I think with the growth of this young group we have got an opportunity to change things and that’s how we should look at it. We’ve got opportunity to continue to evolve, we’ve got an opportunity to grow together, but we’ve also got opportunity to put things right. That’s what I want for the benefit of these players and the legacy of this campaign.”
The final two games of the campaign will take place in September and October. The nine group winners and the runner-up with the best record (not counting results against sixth-placed teams in groups of six) qualify directly for the final tournament to join co-hosts Albania and Serbia in the summer of 2027. The eight other runners-up contest the play-offs to determine the four remaining finalists.
Cymru U21
EVAN WATTS (Swansea City – on loan at Galway United), Kit MARGETSON (Swansea City – on loan at Connah’s Quay Nomads), Luke ARMSTRONG (Cardiff City – on loan at Penybont FC), Aled THOMAS (Everton), Alex WILLIAMS (West Bromwich Albion), Archie HARRIS (AFC Bournemouth – on loan at Eastleigh), Ben HAMMOND (Nottingham Forest – on loan at Northampton Town), Calum AGIUS (Crewe Alexandra), Cameron CONGREVE (Swansea City – on loan at Dundee), Charlie CREW (Leeds United), Cian ASHFORD (Cardiff City), Dakarai MAFICO (Cardiff City – on loan at Yeovil Town), Elliot MYLES (Norwich City), Freddie ISSAKA (Plymouth Argyle – on loan at Truro City), Gabriele BIANCHERI (Manchester United – on loan at Rotherham United), George NEVETT (Peterborough United), Joel COTTERILL (Swansea City – on loan at Dundee), Jonathan BLAND (Barnsley), Kai ANDREWS (Coventry City – on loan at Hibernian), Luey GILES (Cardiff City – on loan at Eastleigh), Oliver BOSTOCK (West Bromwich Albion), Rhys THOMAS (Manchester City), Tanatswa NYAKUHWA (Cardiff City – on loan at Newport County).
