Bellamy to captain Wales

[Montse]

Its only a couple of games but sure he'll do well and will certainly boost his confidence

 

Bellamy captains weakened Wales

 

Bellamy faces a busy and varied week in Cardiff

Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy will skipper Wales in their Euro 2008 qualifiers with Slovakia and Cyprus, despite a court appearance next week.

Bellamy faces Cardiff magistrates on assault charges on Tuesday in a trial expected to last for three days.

 

The front man takes over from Ryan Giggs, whose hamstring injury keeps him out against Slovakia on Saturday and probably Cyprus four days later.

 

West Ham's James Collins is out of both fixtures with a groin tear.

 

Wales manager John Toshack has called up MK Dons defender Craig Morgan, Yeovil winger Arron Davies and Wrexham attacking midfielder Chris Llewellyn.

 

"I've a feeling Giggs will start full-time training 48 hours before the Cyprus game," Toshack told BBC Sport Wales.

 

"That would probably mean he would miss out, but we'll wait and see."

 

Giggs has not played since injuring his hamstring in Manchester United's Champions League win over Celtic on 13 September.

 

He will have a scan in midweek which will go a long way to determine whether he will be available for the must-win game with Cyprus.

 

 

Arron Davies won his first cap against Trinidad & Tobago in May

 

West Ham defender Collins picked up his injury in Thursday's Uefa Cup loss in Palermo. He will be out for two weeks.

 

His withdrawal means Wales have lost three of the four defenders who played in the opening Group D defeat in the Czech Republic.

 

Mark Delaney (knee) and Sam Ricketts (fractured cheekbone) were known absentees last week.

 

But despite the defensive crisis, there is no likelihood Toshack will attempt to persuade Coventry centre back Robert Page to reverse his decision to end his international career.

 

Crystal Palace midfielder Carl Fletcher is another injury worry.

 

He will remain at his club for intense training and treatment on his ankle injury before hopefully linking with the squad in midweek.

 

Toshack has decided against recalling John Hartson after he came out of international retirement because of the West Brom striker's injury worries and lack of recent match action.

 

There were some positives for Toshack on Sunday at least as goalkeeper Jason Brown came off the bench to save a penalty on his debut in Blackburn's win over Wigan.

 

And Robert Earnshaw scored his seventh league goal of the season in Norwich's 4-1 home defeat to Burnley.

 

Jason Koumas was recalled to the squad last week after missing the Czech Republic match because of a lack of fitness.

 

But the midfielder looks back to full fitness after he started his third successive match for West Brom on Saturday, and could force his way into the side.

 

Toshack, though, will be concerned over the lack of action for Simon Davies.

 

The midfielder played 12 minutes as a substitute for Everton on Saturday, taking his game-time total this season to just 175 minutes.

 

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal...als/5361822.stm

[Alonso]

Hopefully that'll give him some confidence and the boost he needs. A goal or two wouldn't go a miss either!!

[ManxRed]

You know you're in trouble when you're calling up MK Dons defenders!!