Canada shows ‘gulf’ as Wales youngsters exposed

“We can see the gulf, we knew that was going to be the case. But if we don’t do it, when are we going to do it?”

Wales boss Craig Bellamy’s response to the question of what he had gleaned from his side’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Canada was telling.

The head coach gave Dylan Lawlor, Ronan Kpakio, Joel Colwill and Kai Andrews their international debuts across the September international camp.

And while Cardiff City centre-back Lawlor excelled in the 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory in Kazakhstan, the other debutants found the going tougher against Jesse Marsch’s dynamic and explosive outfit.

At only 18 years of age, Kpakio’s best years in football are all ahead of him. He has shown huge promise in the early stages of Brian Barry-Murphy’s reign as boss at Cardiff, but has made just 14 appearances in senior club football in his career.

And while Kpakio’s promise is there for all to see, ex-Wales international Nia Jones admitted she fears for the short-term prospects of the right-back, and some other young guns, following the Canada defeat.

Speaking on BBC Match of the Day Wales, Jones said: “I am a little bit worried that some of the players in this camp might have played their way out of Craig Bellamy’s plans.

“I worry for the likes of Ronan Kpakio, I thought he really struggled.

“I am not saying he isn’t one for the future, he’s only 18 and he is a really promising talent, but I think he was exposed a little bit tonight.”

Former centre-back Ashley Williams – who won 86 caps for his country – was quick to defend Kpakio, stating that his maiden outing under Bellamy should not dent his confidence.

“It was a tough night for him but he did some good things as well. Don’t let it knock your confidence,” said Williams.

“I think a lot of people would have struggled if they’d made their debut today – Canada were a tough opponent.”

A host of regulars were not involved in the latest international camp – including Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Nathan Broadhead, Kieffer Moore, Danny Ward, Aaron Ramsey, Connor Roberts and Jay Dasilva – paving the way for youngsters to be given a chance.

Bellamy had spoken of the quality of Canada – ranked 28th in the world by Fifa, three places above Wales – in the build-up to the fixture at the Swansea.com Stadium, highlighting that he wanted his squad to be properly tested.

So it was perhaps more understandable that David Brooks was typically diplomatic in his assessment of the new caps.

“We’ve got a very good team that are mainly playing in the qualifiers and then we’ve got a lot of young talent that was on show [against Canada] that I thought did really well,” he said.

As has been the case down the years with Wales, squad depth is lacking at present, hence Bellamy admitted he would seek help from the gods before next month’s friendly with England at Wembley and the World Cup qualifier against Belgium at Cardiff City Stadium four days later.

“Honestly, what will I do now? Sit, watch games, pray, have a candle every time a player of ours is playing that we don’t pick up any more injuries than we had in this one (camp),” he said.

“To play against the top teams we need our best players.”

But the long-term also has to be considered, as ex-Wales frontman Rob Earnshaw pointed out.

“What [Bellamy] did was threw in some of the young players and said ‘listen, this is going to be as big a challenge as you get, we’re going to throw it at you and this is going to help you for later on’,” Earnshaw told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

The fixture with Canada, and in Lawlor’s case the Kazakhstan qualifier, gave Bellamy the opportunity to expose players to senior international football.