大象传媒

Wales U21s players ruled out by admin issue

Rubin Colwill (L) and Owen BeckImage source, Huw Evans agency
Image caption,

Rubin Colwill (L) and Owen Beck are already on Wales boss Craig Bellamy's radar

  • Published

Wales Under-21s have been forced to name a squad without key players including senior international Rubin Colwill because of an administrative error.

Wales face the Czech Republic in Newport on Friday evening looking to seal a place in the play-offs for next summer鈥檚 European Under-21 Championship.

But manager Matty Jones was told just hours before kick-off he would be without several players, including nine-cap Colwill and Owen Beck who dropped out of Craig Bellamy鈥檚 senior squad on Thursday night.

Jones expressed his disappointment and promised a 鈥渧igorous review鈥 into the error, but said he was confident of players stepping in.

It has forced Jones to name an understrength bench, with three spare places and no reserve goalkeeper.

Only players who were registered to face Iceland in last month鈥檚 qualifier were discovered to be eligible.

They include full caps Charlie Savage and captain Finn Stevens with both selected to start the final group fixture.

Jones told 大象传媒 Sport Wales: 鈥淭here鈥檚 been an administrative error and issue we鈥檝e been dealing with the last number of hours which has led to key players like Rubin and Owen being pulled out of our squad

鈥淚t is really deflating, but we鈥檝e spoken about siege mentality and making this a challenge for the rest of the squad because we鈥檝e managed without those players when they鈥檝e been successful to go to the senior squad.

"We would have loved to have had them, but at the same time we are still confident that the processes we鈥檝e put in place mean those stepping in know their roles.

鈥淲e鈥檙e fully confident and the players who have stepped in have taken it in their stride.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about us learning as a staffing group and an association and there will be a vigorous review to find the answers and to make sure this doesn鈥檛 happen again.鈥

Wales need a point to seal a runners-up spot and a place in next month鈥檚 play-offs, while a win would see them top the group ahead of leaders Denmark鈥檚 final fixture on Tuesday.

Jones said the day had been 鈥渃hallenging鈥 but added: 鈥淗opefully we have managed the ripple effect in the right way, that players feel confident to compete and battle for success that we鈥檝e been working for in this group. We always speak about the collective and today has been really showcasing that.鈥