When it comes to Wales needing a result, Craig Bellamy and Denmark have been something of a surprise dream fit. On the back of a 1-0 loss to Portugal in Lisbon, the head coach is straight back down to business as he prepares his side to face the Danes in Copenhagen on Sunday ( ). With no wins in their five matches in 2026, Bellamy and Wales sorely need a positive result - particularly as they bid to upset the odds and preserve their Nations League A status.
But Bellamy has an impressive history with Denmark, and the aim is now to create even more. Do Wales have what it takes to survive League A? In 1998, Bellamy came off the bench to net an 87th-minute winner - his first competitive international goal - as Wales came from behind to stun Denmark in Euro 2000 qualifying.
It ended Wales' seven-game winless run in competitive matches, and former striker Iwan Roberts - who was an unused substitute in the game - felt the result rescued boss Bobby Gould. "It was a magnificent header and probably saved Gould," Roberts told the BBC's Feast of Football podcast. Gould himself said at the time: "All I saw was 14 fantastic Welshmen out there giving everything." He added: "When Craig scored the winner we were all sitting on the bench blowing it over the line." Bellamy's own recollection of matters is somewhat different, with some members of the squad perhaps disappointed Gould had been handed a shock lifeline.
"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. "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." Of the game itself, Bellamy said: "The kit was awful; I looked awful. "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." Jay Dasilva - who was born just six months before Bellamy's moment of magic in Copenhagen - revealed the head coach had not mentioned his goal to the squad. But the Coventry City left-back duly vowed to "pull him up on it" after facing the media on the eve of the Nations League contest with the Danes. Live on BBC iPlayer, BBC One Wales, BBC Sounds, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and 5 Live, BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary.
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