Wales Faces Tough Challenge in Nations League with New Faces and Key Absences

Craig Bellamy has turned to fresh blood and familiar scars as Wales step back into the deep end of the Nations League.

The national boss has handed a first senior call-up to Cardiff City forward Cian Ashford, but will have to face Erling Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo without his defensive linchpin Joe Rodon.

Rodon blow as Wales step up a level

Wales return to League A with the odds stacked against them. Portugal, Denmark and Norway await, and they will do so without first-choice centre-back Rodon, ruled out by a hamstring injury.

The bad news at the back does not stop there. Dylan Lawlor, Rodon’s regular partner, is also absent from the 28-man squad as he continues to battle a knee problem that has kept him out all season. Cardiff defender Ronan Kpakio is missing too.

So Bellamy goes into a group stacked with attacking firepower with his back line stripped of continuity and experience.

Ashford rewarded as attacking options reshaped

At the other end of the pitch, there is a different story. Opportunity.

Ashford, 21, earns his chance after catching the eye in the early weeks of the Championship campaign with Cardiff. He joins a reshaped forward unit that also includes Liverpool youngster Lewis Koumas.

Cardiff’s attacking contingent could have been even heavier. Isaak Davies and Rubin Colwill are both unavailable through injury, while midfielder Kai Andrews misses out despite a strong start on loan at Aaron Ramsey’s Oxford United from Coventry City.

There is experience returning too. Harry Wilson of Leeds United and Wolves midfielder Jordan James are back after injuries kept them out of June’s friendlies against Ghana and Romania. Swansea City defender Ben Cabango also reappears in the squad.

Mark Harris and Liam Cullen return to the fold, while Wes Burns, now at Leicester City, is recalled and could make his first international appearance since 2024. The 10-cap winger adds pace and work-rate out wide for a side that has struggled to unsettle higher-ranked opponents.

Davies back to lead a bruised side

Amid the churn, one constant remains. Captain Ben Davies keeps his place.

The 33-year-old was named in the summer squads but did not play, still feeling his way back from a serious ankle injury suffered with Tottenham in January. Now he has minutes under his belt again for Spurs and is in line for his first Wales appearance since October 2025, when he reached 100 caps.

His leadership will be tested. Wales have not won in four matches and have not beaten a team in the world’s top 20 since a 2-1 victory over Croatia in October 2023. Under Bellamy, they are still waiting for a first win against a side ranked above them.

They sit 38th in the world, their lowest position since August 2014. The climb back starts in the harshest of environments.

Haaland, Ronaldo and a brutal schedule

The schedule is unforgiving.

Wales open away to current Nations League holders Portugal on 24 September, in the first of four fixtures across an extended international window. Norway, World Cup quarter-finalists, come to Cardiff on 1 October, with a double-header against Denmark wrapped around that home game.

They travel to Copenhagen to face a Denmark side ranked 21st in the world, then host the Norwegians before finishing with the return match against the Danes in Cardiff on 4 October.

Portugal are yet to name their squad, but Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to feature in their first games under Jorge Jesus, his former boss in the Saudi Pro League. Norway will bring Haaland. Denmark rarely turn up light.

A patched-up Welsh defence will have to withstand some of the most ruthless finishers in the game without Rodon and Lawlor.

Bellamy’s turbulent build-up

All of this comes against a backdrop of uncertainty around the manager himself.

These will be Wales’ first matches since Bellamy came close to walking away from the job after talks with Championship club Burnley. He stayed, but the ground has shifted beneath him.

Two key members of his backroom team have gone. Assistant Piet Cremers has taken a role in Belgium, while James Rowberry has stepped away from international duty to focus on being assistant manager at Stoke City.

Bellamy has turned to familiar Welsh figures to fill the gaps. Former captain Ashley Williams joins the staff, bringing the authority of a player who has led his country on the biggest stages. Ex-Swansea City boss Alan Sheehan also comes in, adding club dugout experience to a coaching group that suddenly looks very different.

The reset is happening on the touchline as well as on the pitch.

A defining test

These are Wales’ first competitive fixtures since March’s penalty shoot-out defeat by Bosnia-Herzegovina in the World Cup play-offs, a loss that shut the door on a major tournament and left scars that have not yet fully healed.

Now comes a brutal, top-tier Nations League group, a squad missing key defenders, a manager who has already stared at the exit, and a fanbase wondering which way this project is heading.

Ashford’s call-up, Davies’ return, the reshaped bench and a daunting run of fixtures against Portugal, Denmark and Norway will provide the answer soon enough.