Football

UEFA Nations League: Wales Promotion 'Hasn't Sunk In' For Bellamy After 4-1 Iceland Win

Their victory, alongside a 3-1 defeat for Turkiye away to Montenegro, means that Craig Bellಞamy's side topped their group by a point

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Liam Cullen
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Wales secured promotion to League A after beating Iceland 4-1 at home in their final Nations League group match, having gone a goal down early on. (More Football News)

Their victory, alongside a 3-1 defe💯at for Turkiye away to Montenegro, means that Craig Bellamy's side topped their groupܫ by a point.

"The feeling hasn't quite sunk in yet, but it's been a real positive c✅amp Whatever the result of this game, it's just been a positive camp," said Bellamy after the match.

"The targets we set right from the start, I🧜 feel we've been able🧜 to achieve."

Wales started the day know🤡ing they needed to win and for results to go their way to top the group, but went a goal down after seven minutes after Andri Gudjohnsen followed up from a Danny Ward save.

It was the first goal Wales had conceded at home in 321 minutes and the first time they had been behind under Bellamy, but they responded well. The hosts managed to control the🦩 rest of the half, with Lewis Cullen scoring twice in the final 15 min🔴utes of the first period.

The determination🦋 of hi𒉰s team to stick to the plan was something that pleased Bellamy immensely.

"There were one or two tests today that I feel we've been abl🍬e to progress [through]. If they had happened one or two games ago, we might not have been able to.

"Where we're at, you go 1-0 down in the first few minutes and you get a p♑erformance like that.

"Then after that, when the crowd get a little bit edgy and try to🦩 force things for us... No, no. We keep the ball because we believe that's going to benefit us, and the players were able to do that."

In the second half, Wales were able to dominate and bagged goals from Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson to make things more c꧅omfortable.

"I thought🔜 we took control of the tempo of the game and we're a good team if we're able to do that," said Bellamy.

On promotion itself, the Wales🌜 manager could not o🌜verstate the importance of being able to mix with the biggest teams in international football in Europe.

"For where we want to be and where we want to 🦹go, it's huge.🍌 It's so important for us," he said.

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