Nations League: Wales v Iceland
Venue: Cardiff City Stadium Date: Tuesday, 19 November Kick off: 19:45 GMT
Coverage: Live on S4C, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, live text and commentary on the BBC Sport website and app
Head coach Craig Bellamy insists Wales will ignore results elsewhere as they aim for an improbable Nations League promotion in Tuesday’s final group game against Iceland.
Turkey are top of Group B4 with 11 points, while Wales are in second place on nine points and Iceland third on seven.
To win the group and secure their return to the top tier, Wales must beat Iceland at Cardiff City Stadium and hope Turkey lose in Montenegro.
A draw for Turkey in Montenegro could open the door for Wales, but they would need to beat Iceland by four goals.
Failing that, and unless they lose to Iceland, Wales will face a Nations League promotion play-off in March, meaning their World Cup qualifying campaign would be pushed back to June or September next year.
“Honestly, I don’t know about the group – all I care about is winning this game. That’s the honest truth,” Bellamy said.
“What will be will be. Just win the games, no matter who it is. That’s surely football. How can you set up when to give you the best opportunity of winning? Home, away, whatever.
“Whatever happens elsewhere happens. If we draw we deal with that, if we lose we deal with that. There’s only three outcomes. How can we put ourselves in the best position to win the game? And that is it.”
Wales are unbeaten in their five games under Bellamy, the most recent being Saturday’s hard-earned goalless draw in Turkey.
Results have been encouraging and so have the performances, with Wales’ progressive new style of play earning praise for the former captain and his players.
When Wales last faced Iceland in October, Bellamy’s side led 2-0 at half-time, but ended up drawing 2-2 in Reykjavik.
“We knew the game wasn’t over, the game didn’t feel like it,” Bellamy said. “We had some control, but it wasn’t dominant enough to say this team aren’t going to come back, not with the profile of players they have, the manager they have, knowing the history of the last 15 years, they are never out of a game.
“They have been on a similar journey to where we’ve been, qualifying [for major tournaments], getting to final stages of play-offs and missing out.
“They have big experience, they have very good profiles coming through, they are producing elite players, that makes them dangerous. There will be a lot of difficulties in the game.”
Wales centre-back Joe Rodon and striker Mark Harris are both available and training fully after their clash of heads during Saturday’s draw in Turkey.
Bellamy has no new injury concerns to add to what is already a lengthy list of absentees.
Midfielders Ethan Ampadu, Aaron Ramsey and Ollie Cooper were all ruled out before Bellamy named his squad earlier this month.
Kieffer Moore, Wes Burns, Nathan Broadhead, Owen Beck and Luke Harris have all withdrawn since then.
Iceland left-back Logi Tomasson, who scored one goal and created the other in last month’s 2-2 draw with Wales in Reykjavik, is suspended.
Wales have lost just one of their eight meetings with Iceland in all competitions (five wins, two draws), going down 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier in September 1984.
Iceland have lost their past three away games against Wales. This is their first such visit since a 3-1 loss in March 2014.
Wales are unbeaten in their five matches under Craig Bellamy (two wins, three draws). This is the longest unbeaten run to begin a managerial tenure of any Wales boss.
Wales have gone 314 minutes without conceding a goal at home. They could keep four consecutive clean sheets in competitive home fixtures for the first time since September 2016, when they kept four.
Iceland won 2-0 against Montenegro last time out and will be looking to win back-to-back competitive away matches for the first time since September 2015.
Neco Williams is one of only three players to have played every minute for Wales under Craig Bellamy so far (450), along with Joe Rodon and Ben Davies. Williams has assisted two goals in his past four international appearances, as many as in his first 39 games for Wales combined.
Harry Wilson has been directly involved in more goals than any other Wales player in the Nations League (seven), as well as being their top scorer in the competition (five goals, two assists). He also netted in his only previous appearance against Iceland last month.
Orri Oskarsson has scored three goals in four starts for Iceland in the Nations League. He could become the first player to score in three consecutive appearances for Iceland in the Nations League.
