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Wales v Canada BBC Radio Wales This video can not be played Wales v Canada BBC Radio Wales This video can not be played 'Can I say that? ' - Wales boss Bellamy International friendly: Wales v Canada Venue: Swansea. com Stadium Date: Tuesday, 9 September Kick-off: 19: 45 BST Coverage: Live on i Player, BBC One, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and Sounds, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary. Wales head coach Craig Bellamy says he does not fear a beating from Canada but chose them as friendly opponents because he wanted his team to be properly tested. Canada, who are three places above Wales in the world rankings, visit the Swansea. com Stadium on Tuesday as they continue preparations for next year's World Cup, which they are jointly hosting with the USA and Mexico. Wales went top of their World Cup qualifying group after last Thursday's win in Kazakhstan, though they have since slipped to third thanks to victories for North Macedonia and Belgium. As Wales are sitting out the next two matchdays in qualifying, their next two fixtures are friendlies - against Canada this week and then England next month - before resuming their campaign at home to Belgium in October. "I chose them. I was like: 'Give me the toughest [opponents]. ' I'm fully aware I could get beaten. I could get my arse kicked, " said Bellamy. "But what would I gain from playing a lesser team? This is a tough game where there's an intensity. We'll see where we are. So it just gives us a good opportunity to be able to get better. "They are ranked better than us in the world. So that's a definite incentive for us. So, yeah, we pick the best team that we feel that's available for this game, to be able to get the best result. " Former Wales captain Craig Bellamy was appointed head coach in July 2024 Marsch expects Wales to join Canada at World Cup Where does Kazakhstan win leave Wales' World Cup hopes? This will be Wales' first friendly under Bellamy, who has only previously presided over Nations League and World Cup qualifying matches. There will be an opportunity to experiment with selection, Bellamy hinting that more players could make their debut after Cardiff City's 19-year-old centre-back Dylan Lawlor impressed on his first senior international appearance in Kazakhstan. His Bluebirds team-mates Ronan Kpakio and Joel Colwill, as well as Coventry City midfielder Kai Andrews, are the uncapped players in the squad. "We want to play the best teams. I haven't been in a position where I could choose games because every game I've had to this date has always had something riding on it, points and qualifying, " said Bellamy. "But now this game with Canada really fitted us. And the opportunity to play England at Wembley? Never underestimate it. That's amazing. "I want [it to be the case] that every game is tough, every game is intense. You've got to run, sprint and change direction and what if that ball goes over the top - no ambling back, ploddy players. "If we don't do that against these type of teams we're going to get hurt. That's why these games are so important, we have to have the right habits. " Youngsters Joel Colwill, Dylan Lawlor, Ronan Kpakio, Lewis Koumas and Charlie Crew (L to R) will all hope to feature against Canada This will be the first time Wales' men have played in Swansea since a friendly goalless draw with the USA during the Covid pandemic in 2020, and the first time they will have played in front of a crowd there since a 2013 defeat against Croatia, when Bellamy was still playing for Wales. Around 14, 000 tickets have been sold so far, with the Swansea. com Stadium holding 21, 000. "It's always important, but the support needs to be there. Everywhere we go, it's got to be sold out. If it isn't, I'm not happy. The players deserve that, " Bellamy added. "It doesn't come from just one area, same when we're in Cardiff. Everyone comes from everywhere to get there. So if you're from Cardiff as well, you have to get down there to Swansea. That's how I see it. "I believe it adds to our players, it helps them. I believe national teams, countries like ours, should be playing in front of full stadiums. " To watch and listen, you need to enable Java Script in your browser. Wales v Canada. BBC Radio Wales. Wales v Canada BBC Radio Wales Listen here at 19: 00 Cymru v Canada. BBC Radio Cymru. Cymru v Canada BBC Radio Cymru Listen here at 19: 00 Friendlies All competitions This is the fourth game between Wales and Canada, all in friendlies – they met twice in May 1986 (one Canada win, one Wales win) and most recently in May 2004, when a Paul Parry goal gave Wales a 1-0 win. Canada haven’t faced a British home nation since a March 2017 draw against Scotland – they’ve won three out of 14 such games (D2 L9), a 2-0 win against Wales in 1986 and two wins against Northern Ireland in 1995 (2-0) and 2005 (1-0). Wales have scored just nine goals in their last 17 friendly matches (W4 D7 L6), scoring more than once in just one of those 17 games – a 4-0 win over Gibraltar in October 2023. There have been exactly 30 shots from both teams combined in each of Wales’ last two games, the first time that has happened since October 2008 (31 vs Liechtenstein, 42 vs Germany). Canada manager Jesse Marsch managed one match in Wales during his spell as Leeds United manager, drawing 2-2 away at Cardiff City in January 2023 in an FA Cup third round tie, with the Whites coming from 2-0 down to secure a draw that day. Wales have won six of their 11 matches under manager Craig Bellamy (D4 L1), giving him the best win ratio of any permanent Wales manager in history (54. 5%). Kieffer Moore has scored in each of his last two Wales appearances, but he has never scored in three in a row. He’s scored five goals in his last four games for club and country, as many as in his previous 22 combined. Under Craig Bellamy for Wales, Harry Wilson has had the most shots (23) and shots on target (12) and only Sorba Thomas (26) has created more chances than Wilson (22). Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.