City star makes Wales bow as others push for Brazil
It proved to be a fantastic evening for City’s Internationals last night as Craig Bellamy signed off from the International scene with an assist and 1-1 draw for Wales against Belgium.Making his 78th and final Cap for his country, Craig Bellamy played the full 90 minutes providing a great assist for Aaron Ramsey's leveller to secure an excellent 1-1 draw against group winners Belgium in Brussels, their final match of their World Cup qualification campaign. Bellamy made a total of 78 caps during 15 years with Wales, scoring 19 goals.
City youngster Declan John was an unused substitute for the game in Brussels, but an impressive debut performance in Wales’ 1-0 win over Macedonia at Cardiff City Stadium last Friday will bode well for him for future call-ups to Chris Coleman’s squad.
Elsewhere, City midfielder Gary Medel scored in a 2-1 win for Chile over Ecuador last night, a win that books his and Chile’s place in the World Cup next summer.
Just needing a point from their tie with Ecuador in Santiago, two quickfire goals in three minutes just after the half hour mark put Chile in command of the tie. Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez gave ‘La Roja’ the lead before Medel slotted home a second just two minutes later.
The victory confirms that there will be two Bluebirds in Brazil next year, Medel joining South Korean star Kim Bo Kyung to make it two City stars to have already booked their place in the World Cup. Kim continued his preparation with South Korea yesterday, scoring in a 3-1 friendly victory over Mali in Cheonam.
Aron Gunnarsson took one step closer to joining them in Brazil as he captained Iceland to a 1-1 draw with Norway and a World Cup qualification play-off spot.
Gunnarsson and Iceland will now face a two-legged play-off against one of the seeded nations from the other European qualification groups in November as they look to claim a first major finals appearance in the country’s history.
Elsewhere, David Marshall was an unused substitute for Scotland in their 2-0 win over Croatia at Hampden Park while City youngster Tommy O’Sullivan made his debut for Wales Under-21s, playing 79 minutes in their 4-0 win over San Marino in Bangor.