Wales ended a seven-game wait for victory and claimed their first ever win in Nations League A by beating Norway 2-1 in Cardiff. Neco Williams and Dan James scored the goals, and Wales kept Erling Haaland off the scoresheet in a result the head coach Craig Bellamy did not take lightly.
The scale of it went beyond ending a barren run. It was only the second time Wales have beaten a side ranked higher than them in a competitive fixture since reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016, and their first win over a top-20 nation since beating Croatia in Cardiff in October 2023 under Rob Page. Norway came into the game ranked 19th in the world. The victory also took Bellamy to nine wins from his 23 games in charge since he replaced Rob Page in July 2024.
The result arrived after a testing period for Bellamy, one that had darkened the atmosphere among supporters. March brought the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup, with Wales beaten on penalties by Bosnia-Herzegovina. June brought a dalliance with the vacant Burnley job. Those summer clouds lingered into the start of the Nations League campaign and grew heavier after the manner of the defeat in Denmark.
Before kick-off the mood was plain to see. As they had done on the night the World Cup dream ended, supporters gathered at the Canopi venue in the shadow of the Principality Stadium, where Wales are due to kick off a home European Championships in less than two years. Many of the Red Wall members present were deep in discussion about where and why things had gone wrong under Bellamy. Ryan March, a fan and editor of the fanzine Alternative Wales, which organised the pre-match meet, said people had turned on the head coach after Bosnia and that the Burnley episode had led some to wonder whether a change might do the team good. When it did not happen, he said, he expected a reaction that had not come. The reaction on social media was more extreme, but in person the view was not that Bellamy had to go, rather that he had to be better, with the promise of his early months seen as having petered out.
Bellamy himself had addressed the scrutiny before the game, accepting that it was deserved. “We need to improve; I need to improve,” he said, a piece of humility that stood out given some supporters had grown tired of Wales and their head coach talking a good game.
There were caveats offered too. A four-game window without first-choice goalkeeper Karl Darlow, first-choice centre-back Joe Rodon and the attacking threat of Harry Wilson was seen as a tough hand, as was the calibre of the opposition, with League One options having to be turned to at times in place of Premier League regulars. Fans also pointed to the expectation levels created by recent major-tournament qualification, and by Bellamy himself when he told supporters to stop accepting being “little old Wales”. Yet even those who recalled darker days for the national team still questioned the tactics, the game-management and the coach-speak.
What followed on the pitch was a performance that appeared to win supporters over as much as the result did. Oscar Bobb put Norway ahead after 11 minutes, but the crowd did not turn, driving the players on instead. “If they wanted to turn, that was their chance,” Bellamy said afterwards. “But they didn’t, they drove players on.” The noise lifted as Haaland was contained and Wales kept moving forward. Bellamy revealed he had held an “identity meeting” with his players to re-establish the hallmarks of his early time in charge, and the return of tempo and aggression suggested it worked, alongside the resilience to close a game out that had been a key criticism of the World Cup campaign.
There were individual signs of redemption too, from Liam Cullen’s performance — a player Bellamy has been criticised for selecting over others — to Neco Williams’ free-kick after a difficult night in Denmark. Suddenly the Nations League campaign has new life, along with the chance of remaining in the top tier and possibly a seeding boost for the Euro 2028 qualifiers.
The former Wales midfielder Joe Ledley saw it as a return to the early weeks of Bellamy’s reign, saying fans had wanted to see that version of the team back and that this was a Craig Bellamy side. Robert Earnshaw, another former Wales team-mate of Bellamy and now part of the Match of the Day Wales team, said the win was one the coach, the team and the whole nation needed, that levels had dropped after the World Cup disappointment, and that this felt like a statement win.
The next test arrives quickly, with Denmark visiting Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday, 4 October in Nations League Group A4.