By Matthew Jones
August 21 2002

Mark Hughes does not expect his fellow teammate Craig Bellamy to be fit in time for Wales' opening European Championship qualifier against Finland on September 7th. Mark Hughes does not expect his fellow teammate Craig Bellamy to be fit in time for Wales' opening European Championship qualifier against Finland on September 7th.

The Newcastle flyer has already been ruled out of his country's friendly with Croatia in Varazdin, and Hughes feels it is unlikely that Bellamy will have recovered from the knee injury that has disrupted his summer for the trip to Helsinki.

Hughes said: "It's going to be touch and go, but I'm not hopeful. I've spoken to Craig and he says he is right on track for a full return to fitness, but whether his return for Newcastle will be quick enough for us is debatable.

"Whether he will have had enough games leading up to the Finland game is questionable. He must be a worry."

Hughes says Bellamy's likely absence will be a blow to Wales' hopes of making an immediate impact in the qualifying stages, and added: "Craig had a wonderful season last term, when his confidence is high he's a player of great talent and belief.

"When he's in that mood he's very hard to stop because he has that great asset of pace which you need at this level. It's very valuable.

"He frightens defences, he proved that last season and he proved it to himself as well. The way that he goes about the game with a belief and determination, people know what a good player he is.

"He's very confident in his own ability and rightly so, he's a fine young player."