'I hope I see you at World Cup': Angered by Marsch's celebration Wales coach Bellamy eyes Canada clash again

New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) New Wales head coach Craig Bellamy hopes his team faces Canada at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, after being unhappy with how his counterpart, Jesse Marsch celebrated before the final whistle blew in a 1-0 win in an international friendly.

"I still wanted to win, trust me. Honestly, I’m actually not happy because I really hate losing more than I like winning. I see him (Marsch) celebrating at the end. I’m thinking, ‘I hope I see you at the World Cup. I hope I see you again'. But I have to also be gracious. Jesse was shaking his coaches’ hands before the final whistle. I have to get used to that," Bellamy told reporters in the post-game interview.

Canada edged Wales 1-0 in a competitive international challenge match in Swansea, chosen by Bellamy to test his side. Derek Cornelius’ first-half free kick proved decisive. Cymru pushed hard after the break, with Mark Harris going close twice. Bellamy handed debuts to Ronan Kpakio, Joel Colwill, and Kai Andrews in a valuable workout ahead of October’s qualifier.

Despite the loss, Bellamy was in no mood for excuses and just wanted to see how his team fared, with youngsters taking the field on the day.

"I don’t do excuses. I don’t talk about process. I’m in the here and now, I want to win. But we had debuts, it was Charlie Crew’s first start, and we had one or two fringe players.

“I needed to see the squad and what they picked up with us. Can they play our way? I very impressed with that. But that speed of securing balls and seeing pressure, coming up with the ball, some of our boys have never been exposed to that," he added.

--IANS

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