Bellamy seeks more Denmark success as Wales travel to Copenhagen in Nations League

Wales head coach Craig Bellamy takes his side to Copenhagen to face Denmark in the Nations League on Sunday, 27 September, at 17:00 BST. Bellamy, who scored two of his 19 international goals for Wales against Denmark, arrives after a 1-0 defeat to Portugal in Lisbon and needs a positive result as Wales bid to preserve their Nations League A status.

Bellamy's link with Denmark stretches back to Euro 2000 qualifying when, in 1998, he came off the bench to score an 87th-minute winner — his first competitive international goal — that hauled Wales from behind and ended a seven-game run without a competitive victory. Iwan Roberts, who was an unused substitute in that game, said: "It was a magnificent header and probably saved Gould," Roberts told the BBC's Feast of Football podcast. Bobby Gould described the players on the day, saying: "All I saw was 14 fantastic Welshmen out there giving everything," and added: "When Craig scored the winner we were all sitting on the bench blowing it over the line."

Bellamy has recalled that the dressing-room reaction to his goal was mixed, saying: "I got loads of stick for it after the game as well, from the players in the changing room, and they weren't too happy," added the Wales boss. He reflected on his own feelings at 19: "For me it was one of the happiest moments of my career at 19 years of age, and the players looked at me with such disgust." He also said of the match: "The kit was awful; I looked awful." and added: "I was a young kid coming through at the time, scoring a lot of goals in the Championship. I was 19; everything was going in at that moment. The actual reflection of the game, they battered us. To come on, and it was the furthest thought from my mind that I was going to get a winner. It was crazy."

A decade on from that moment in Copenhagen, Bellamy struck again against Denmark in November 2008, around "15 miles southwest of Parken Stadium" when he finished from about 20 yards in the 77th minute to secure a surprise friendly victory. That match also saw Aaron Ramsey make his senior international debut, and John Toshack, the Wales manager at the time, said after the game: "I asked him to play deeper and go behind, and he still got his chances in the first half and scored the winning goal as well."

Now leading Wales from the touchline, Bellamy faces a Denmark side that, like his own team, suffered a Nations League opening defeat on Thursday; Denmark lost 3-2 to Norway in Oslo while Wales were beaten 1-0 by Portugal in Lisbon. The article notes both nations failed to qualify for this year's World Cup, "as did Bellamy's men, after suffering penalty shootout heartache in the play-offs against Czechia." Wales have not won since beating North Macedonia in November last year, and Denmark's last victory came in the World Cup play-off semi-finals in March against the same opponents.

Denmark boss Brian Riemer called the fixture a "must-win" and Bellamy said he could "understand the frustrations" of the Danish supporters. The Wales head coach added that he thought it wise not to "poke the bear" when it came to making any concrete predictions about the contest.

Coventry City left-back Jay Dasilva, born six months after Bellamy's Copenhagen winner, revealed the Wales boss had not raised that goal with the squad and vowed to "pull him up on it" when discussing the match on the eve of the Nations League game.

The Nations League meeting in Copenhagen is scheduled for Sunday, 27 September, at 17:00 BST and will be shown live on BBC iPlayer, BBC One Wales, BBC Sounds, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and 5 Live, with coverage also on the BBC Sport website and app plus live text commentary.