Cymru WU19 head coach Nia Davies believes patience will be the key to their success as the squad head to Bosnia and Herzegovina this week for Round 1 of their UEFA qualifying campaign with fixtures against Lithuania, Georgia and the hosts.
“The first game is massively important,” explained Davies to FAW.cymru. “We’re in Group B, so hopefully we will have more of the ball than the opposition. We don’t underestimate any team we play against, but the key thing for us is that we’re patient with the ball.” The campaign begins for Cymru on Tuesday, 26 November against Lithuania at the Stadium Etno Selo Stanišići in Bijeljina.
“From the footage we’ve seen of Lithuania they do sit quite deep,” Davies added. “We will have to break that low block, so it’s about being patient and not really forcing balls forward and being impatient. We have to be in control of the ball. They have got some strengths – They’re physical and they won’t make it nice for us, so we have to be aware of that. We have a game plan and we won’t be complacent in this group.”
The second match takes place in Ugljevik against Georgia on Friday, 29 November before Cymru take on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday, 3 December at the same venue. The group winners will move up to Group A for Round 2 of the qualifying campaign which will take place in early 2025 and will decide the seven nations who will join hosts Poland at the UEFA WU19 Finals next summer.
“We’ve had good results with this group at U17 level so there is an expectation for us to go there and deliver,” Davies added. “Georgia will be similar to Lithuania, but I think Bosnia will be more of a threat going off previous games. One good thing for us is that Bosnia is our last game, so we will have the footage of their first two games going into that one. Out of the three, I think Bosnia will probably be more of a challenge.”
The first challenge for Davies and her squad though will be the limited time available to prepare for the opening match. “We don’t fall in-line with the FIFA international window,” she explained. “So we meet up on Sunday night but some of the girls have games on that day and it’s a really quick turnaround. We’re meeting in London on Sunday, train on the Monday before we fly out, and then we play our first game on Tuesday. It isn’t ideal, but that’s something we have to work around and a problem we have to solve”
However, a draw and a defeat in friendlies against Portugal WU18 last month means that the squad head to Bosnia and Herzegovina with decent preparation behind them. “We had a really good camp in Portugal,” Davies added. “We lost the second game narrowly (2-1), but played really well and it was a really good performance even though we didn’t get a win. It’s put us in a really good place going into this camp as there’s only around four weeks between them. It was really beneficial.”
While Davies and her squad are competing in their own qualifying campaign, the senior squad will be looking to make history and qualify for UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 in their two-legged Play-Off Final against the Republic of Ireland. “Those are two games massive for the nation and women’s football in Wales,” said Davies. “It’s a privilege to be in those play-offs and hopefully the results will go our way. I have every faith in the team and the staff to do that against Ireland. It will be tough, but hopefully they get across the line.”
Davies was also keen to praise the achievements of the men’s team in securing UEFA Nations League promotion and how senior head coaches Craig Bellamy and Rhian Wilkinson are influencing the intermediate teams. “We’ve seen in the past three months that they’re both open to sharing ideas with the youth coaches,” she explained. “Rhian invites us all into camps when we can and does reviews with us to explain her rationale around national team decisions.
“That not only helps us develop as coaches, but helps us explain to our players what’s expected of them when they get to senior level. That togetherness as coaches across different age groups is there with the men’s and women’s teams and it’s great to see. It does make you want to work that little bit harder every time because you want to see the players succeed and get those opportunities. It’s a big jump from U19’s to seniors, but Rhian is looking at youth players and we know that’s going to be a key theme moving forwards.”
