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Ethan Ampadu Emphasized “hurt” wales will bounce back from their defeat at Wembley and look to bounce back for Monday’s big World Cup qualifier belgium,
wales was destroyed England Goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka inside the first 20 minutes of Thursday’s friendly underlined the difference in class between the two sides.
Although Wales did not concede a goal again and kept the scoreline at 3–0, the manager craig bellamy He was forced to play defense by choosing England – ranked fourth in the world – as an opponent four days before Belgium travel to Cardiff.
Wales must beat Belgium to keep alive their hopes of topping their qualification group and automatically reaching next summer’s finals, although their strong performance in last year’s Nations League guarantees them a play-off place in March.
Asked if the defeat to England had damaged morale, Leeds midfielder Ampadu said: “Maybe naturally at the moment, because we are all professionals.
“We came here with the highest expectations for ourselves. We wanted to perform better and show what we can do, what we have been practicing and what we are capable of doing.
“But whether we like it or not, we have to go again on Monday and we know how big this is.
“So even if morale is depleted or egos are a little bit bruised, we have to pick ourselves up as a team, which we will do.
“We’ve already talked about it. Now it’s time to go again.”
While Thomas Tuchel took aim at England fans, insisting his players deserved more support from the “silent” Wembley crowd, Wales were applauded by many of their 7,000-strong traveling support at the final whistle.
Ampadu said he expected ‘Red Wall’ to be at its loudest during the group’s tour of Belgium at the Cardiff City Stadium.
“I was disappointed (in the end) because with the support they gave us and the performance we gave, especially in the first 20 minutes, they deserved more than that,” Ampadu said.
“It reflects us as a nation. We always stick together. We don’t take it for granted.”
“We know what it’s going to be like at the Cardiff City stadium on Monday. We’ve played a few games like this and we know those moments, so it’s a moment we’re enjoying.
“We expected more from ourselves here, we prepared well, but we just couldn’t execute it, especially in the first half.”
Wales also trailed 3–0 to Belgium in the first half in June and struggled to find an equaliser, with only Kevin De Bruyne scoring a late winner for the hosts.
Bournemouth forward David Brooks said: “I think we really should have learned a lesson from Belgium. We can’t start the game like that.
“When you’re down 3-0 against a team of such quality it’s going to be a very long night.
“Some of us were probably only half a yard away from where we should have been, but in the second half we showed a bit more of what we are about.
“Quick turnaround and hopefully we can fix it on Monday. Belgium is clearly the main one.”