The stakes will be sky high when Wales and Belgium face off in a crucial World Cup qualifier tonight, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

Belgium’s goalless draw in North Macedonia now means that Wales’ fate is back in their own hands – they will secure automatic qualification for the 2026 tournament if they win their remaining three games, a tall order although perhaps not unthinkable given the improvement they’ve made under Craig Bellamy.

North Macedonia lead the group standings with 12 points from six games, one point ahead of Belgium and two ahead of Wales, who both have a game in hand. The team finishing second will enter the play-offs in March, while Wales could even make that stage by finishing third following their performance in the Nations League last year, given them a big chance to reach the finals next year.

They will be looking to recover their best form after two comprehensive friendly defeats, although it’s easy to ignore their loss to Canada when Bellamy made multiple changes from their previous qualifying win. Their 3-0 defeat against England – yes, in a friendly intended to prepare for tonight, but still utterly emphatic – was concerning, with the hosts utterly dominant whilst Neco Williams, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies and Jay Dasilva were torn apart by Anthony Gordon, Djed Spence, Buyako Saka and Ezri Konsa.

Craig Bellamy wanted to use England as a comparison benchmark with Belgium and got a rather nasty answer as we barely saw much of Brennan Johnson, Harry Wilson and David Brooks, and the way Saka in particular terrorised the Welsh defence will not have escaped the notice of Jeremy Doku – 5/2 for an assist and 10/3 to get on the scoresheet with starsports.bet – in particular.

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Wales v Belgium
FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifier
19:45 BBC One Wales HD / BBC Three / S4C / BBC iPlayer / S4C Online / BBC Sport Website

LAST FIVE STATS
JUN 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Belgium 4-3 Wales
SEP 2022 NATIONS LEAGUE Belgium 2-1 Wales
JUN 2022 NATIONS LEAGUE Wales 1-1 Belgium
NOV 2021 WORLD CUP Wales 1-1 Belgium
MAR 2021 WORLD CUP Belgium 3-1 Wales

HEAD-TO-HEAD

WALES
OCT 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY England 3-0 Wales
SEP 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Canada 1-0 Wales
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales
JUN 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Belgium 4-3 Wales
JUN 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Wales 3-0 Liechtenstein

BELGIUM
OCT 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Belgium 0-0 North Macedonia
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Belgium 6-0 Kazakhstan
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Liechtenstein 0-6 Belgium
JUN 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Belgium 4-3 Wales
JUN 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING North Macedonia 1-1 Belgium

The hosts have improved a lot under Craig Bellamy, however. He started his reign with a nine-game unbeaten run before a late winner from Kevin de Bruyne in Anderlecht gave Belgium a 4-3 win in the reverse qualifier, when Wales had come from 3-0 down thanks to goals from Harry Wilson, Sorba Thomas and Brennan Johnson. Wales’ record in Cardiff is also a strong one, so we can expect a stronger showing even if they must improve.

Belgium, who very much have their fate in their own hands also despite their draw against North Macedonia on Thursday, still have a strong chance of top spot, with a trip to Kazakhstan and a home fixture against Liechtenstein to come after tonight.

Rudi Garcia’s side need to find the goalscoring touch upfront, though. Despite the quality they possess even as their golden generation ages, Belgium somehow only managed to score one goal in two games against North Macedonia despite having 42 shots and creating 5.32 xG (Sporting Life).

Last week they were dominant – winning the shot count 25-3, the xG count 3.20-0.06 and creating three big chances, all of which were missed – but they couldn’t find a route through and that might prompt Rudi Garcia to include Lois Openda at the expense of Leandro Trossard up top.

Bellamy’s tactical approach with Wales has been to press high and get on the front foot where possible, and despite being taken apart by England, it would appear unlikely to change. That should benefit Belgium, who put four past them in the reverse fixture and had one ruled out for VAR, and an end-to-end contest could give them the space needed to find the goalscoring touch again. The visitors make the most appeal at the starsports.bet match prices here with that in mind, and can take three points from Cardiff.

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