Wales should be playing in Swansea, says Bellamy
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Your support makes all the difference.When a player who says he is "Cardiff through and through" announces that it is time for Wales to play their international games in Swansea, his argument deserves to be taken seriously. Particularly when he happens to be the captain.
Yesterday, as John Toshack's side continued their preparations for their crunch World Cup qualifying double-header against the Finns on Saturday and the Germans on Wednesday, Craig Bellamy echoed his manager's view that the matches should have been transferred from the Millennium Stadium to the Liberty Stadium. So far, only 15,000 tickets have been sold for the visit of Finland, which means yet again there will be yawning gaps.
"It can be a little bit demoralising to play there in front of so many empty seats," Bellamy said. "We want the opposition to be intimidated, not just think 'Oh this is a great ground to play at'. They can't be intimidated when there are 15,000 to 20,000 inside a 75,000-seater arena.
"At the moment we don't deserve the Millennium Stadium, if I'm honest. We need smaller venues to build things up again. I'm Cardiff through and through and to play at our national stadium is great. But I think a smaller ground like the Liberty would be a fitting venue for us. We would fill it out and the pitch is brilliant."
Bellamy and the rest of the Wales camp have long had issues with the home of Welsh rugby, feeling that they are treated like second-class sporting superstars at the Millennium Stadium. "Recently we've had cases where players have tried to do a warm down at the end of a game and have been told to get off the pitch," Bellamy said. "I've seen it for years, you can't use this particular area, or that part of the pitch. If I want to do extra shooting for a key qualifying match, I should be able to do it... I shouldn't be told to get off our own pitch. One of my best mates is involved with the rugby team. He says they would never dare do it to the rugby players."
15,000
The number of tickets sold so far for Wales' World Cup qualifying game against Finland at the 75,000-seat Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
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