Wales drawn with Denmark and Belgium in Euros qualifying group

Wales have been drawn with Denmark, Belgium, Austria, and Belarus in their 2027 U21 European Championship qualifying group.

The draw, which was conducted in Geneva this morning, saw Wales, who were in pot four, pitted against three tricky opponents, as well as a tie with Belarus.

Manager Matty Jones attended Thursday’s proceedings, and while knowing the difficulty of the group, is excited for the challenge ahead.

“We came here hoping for a challenge, and that’s exactly what we’ve got. A lot of people in the room are looking for an easy route to qualification, and we all know that is an objective, but for me, the clear objective is to support players by providing them the best opportunities against the best nations, in order to prepare them for the senior team.”

Cymru narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2025 tournament, as they finished outside of the top two on head-to-head.

Jones doesn’t believe there’s any pressure on his side heading into this campaign, instead insisting others have a lot more to lose.

“I don’t think there’s pressure on myself or the players. I think the onus is on every other team in this group. The expectation is on them to win games, and the expectation for us is to lose games based on the pot we were in.

“The expectation is always to overachieve. That’s what we did in the last campaign, and that’s what we’re setting out to do again this time around. The underdog mentality has always been important for us as a nation.”

While Belgium, Austria and Belarus will represent new opponents for Jones’ side, Denmark will be a familiar foe.

Both were drawn in same qualifying group last time out, and while the manager was hoping for a different team out of pot one, he believes his side have learned a lot from their clashes with the Danes.

“I always had a thought that we would draw Denmark. It would have been nice to have avoided them just to have a different challenge, but the positive for me is that we have learnings to take away from our previous experiences.

“The achievement of taking points away from Denmark away from home in the last campaign was monumental, especially with the difficulty of it being a June window.”

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New talents incoming

The one big difference between the squad last time out to this one is the number of new faces in it.

Ten of the team that were involved in Jones’ last camp won’t be eligible for this campaign cycle due to their age, including Rubin Colwill, Fin Stevens, and Joe Low.

While Jones is disappointed those names won’t be around, he’s hopeful that they can all make an impact in the senior team.

“The most difficult thing is to invest two years of your time to then hand them over is frustrating, but it’s all part of youth football and I understand it, and I would never hold a player back. If they’re ready, good enough, and the senior team wants them, who am I to step in?

“They have to go. These players who are being forced out of the age group through age, it allows better opportunities for younger players and talent to come through the system.”

But with a new campaign comes new opportunities, and Jones is excited about the players who could come into his next camp.

“I integrated a lot of this upcoming group with the last crop of players we had during the last campaign. Being in a five-team group, we were able to play a lot of friendlies, and it helped a lot to bring those players in.

“The likes of Charlie Crew who were exposed to that environment early, they can come in now and flourish with their performances. I would also imagine players from the 2006 group could be fast tracked into this group quickly, because we all know how strong they are.”

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Bellamy keeping tabs

The dream of anyone in the Wales system is to reach the senior setup, and manager Craig Bellamy has been keen to promote youth in his squads.

Jones says conversations with Bellamy have been positive, and that he’s keeping an eye on players at all levels.

“Of course, the likes of Charlie Crew and Cian Ashford are always in contention for the senior team, and I wouldn’t put anything past Craig either with the conversations we’ve had.

“He’s actually speaking about players who are lot younger than that as well, but it’s exciting. To hear Craig speak in the way he does is exciting.”

Jones also hinted that more new faces that fans aren’t yet aware of could make up part of his squad.

“The pool of players that we have to select from is getting wider and wider, so why wouldn’t you be excited about the future?

“We’re discussing players who no longer live, were born or schooled in Wales, and that dual-eligibility piece is something we’ve worked hard on over the last couple of years. It generates more competition, and it creates a healthy environment.”

(Featured Image: Ryan Hiscott/FAW)