Wales will be driven by a determination to prove they can thrive in Nations League A when they face Denmark in Cardiff on Sunday, according to captain Ben Davies.
Craig Bellamy’s side go into the Group A4 fixture at Cardiff City Stadium in buoyant mood after ending a six-game winless sequence by beating Norway 2-1 on Thursday, a result that gave Wales their first ever victory in the top tier of the Nations League.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where you feel like you’re not competing against bigger teams,” said Davies, who has played all 90 minutes of Wales’ three games in this international break. “But I thought we laid a good marker down the other night to show that we do belong playing against these teams – it was a much better all-round performance.
“I think we really got back to what’s got us to success and got us into the Nations League A in the first place. Hopefully we can replicate that.”
The win over Norway came from behind and eased the pressure that had built during a run without a win stretching back to the thrashing of North Macedonia last November. Defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the World Cup play-off semi-final followed, before friendly draws against Northern Ireland and Ghana and then successive losses to Romania, Portugal and Denmark.
Wales’ cause against Norway was helped by the early second-half sending off of defender Torbjorn Heggem, though they had troubled the World Cup quarter-finalists before the red card. Bellamy has said the group has “exploded” following the result.
Now Wales must make amends for last Sunday’s defeat in Copenhagen, where they were well beaten on a demoralising evening. Denmark sit 21st in the Fifa rankings, 17 places above Wales.
Bellamy will again be without Karl Darlow, Joe Rodon, Dylan Lawlor, David Brooks and Harry Wilson because of injury, and he says he has no choice but to make changes to the side that began against Norway.
Davies believes home advantage could prove decisive. “It does make a big difference going away. We didn’t get a grip on the game whereas when we played Norway in Cardiff, it’s our home, our fans, our atmosphere,” the Tottenham defender, who has 103 caps, said.
“It felt like a different game and we had much more control. You just know you have to try to make your home advantage count.”