Wales 7-1 North Macedonia: Close to perfect, says Craig Bellamy

The pursuit of perfection can consume some athletes. Logically speaking, they know that the goal itself is unattainable, but the quest to get there can take them to new heights.

Craig Bellamy is one of those people. He doubts whether anyone or anything can be perfect but, on Tuesday night, he saw Wales come close as they beat North Macedonia 7-1.

The result was one thing, the win Wales needed to finish second in their World Cup qualifying group and secure home advantage in the play-off semi-finals in March.

The performance was something else entirely, playing a stunning blend of expressive and attacking football at a fast pace, combined with raw physicality off the ball that overwhelmed their opponents.

North Macedonia had conceded just three goals in seven qualifying matches before coming to Cardiff City Stadium. They doubled that total within 19 minutes of the first half, before leaving the Welsh capital in humiliation.

“I’m not a perfect person, and I’ve never met a perfect person,” Bellamy said.

“But maybe I’ll take some of that back because that was as close to a perfect performance as I’ve ever seen. That was unbelievable.”

“The way we were able to use the ball, our timing. We didn’t play with one striker, we had three strikers [number] 10 seconds. But they were in a situation where you pull someone out and someone runs, and then the wide players were linked to it as well.

“We were very clean with the ball and that allows you to have good chances. It was one of those days where we were able to take advantage of them as well.”