CRAIG BELLAMY says Wales’ World Cup failure “hurts even more” after Italy were KO’d by Bosnia.
The Azzurri will miss a third successive global tournament following Tuesday’s play-off final penalty shootout loss in Zenica.
Wales lost to Bosnia in the same way in last week’s semi-final and boss Bellamy was told of their stunning triumph over the four-time World Cup winners during his post-match press conference after the 1-1 friendly draw with Northern Ireland.
Bellamy was stunned at Italy’s exit and said: “They’ve won it four times. In between of not going to the World Cup, they won the Euros. Wow.
“I did speak to the Bosnia team after our game. I said: ‘Congratulations, all the best. I’d love to be able to see you at the World Cup.’
“I don’t know if I fully believed it though. Credit to them. It hurts even more now.”
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The Welsh boss was told that Bosnia won the game via penalties.
He said: “How s*** were we to lose to them huh?
“B****y hell, the Bosnian press raved about us by the way.”
He was then told that Italy were down to ten men after Alessandro Bastoni‘s red card.
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Bellamy could then only muster a frustrated “f***’s sake.”
Bellamy was furious with his own side’s first-half display in Cardiff and let rip at his players by unleashing the hairdryer.
He added: “We were s*** in the first half. Sideways, sideways, everything we are not.
“It’s the first half-time I had to go in and really go. My hand’s still hurting from hitting the table. We cannot be that.
“I can accept a poor performance with the ball and mistakes are never a problem.
“But winning duels, winning second balls, coming back together, that to me means the most.”
Brennan Johnson, who missed one of the pens last Thursday, was booed when the Crystal Palace forward came on as a second-half sub.
Bellamy claimed: “I didn’t hear it I thought the fans who were there were top.
“And it was more of them than I expected because I know we don’t like disappointment.
“I’ve got to be honest, I was expecting boos at half-time. I was with it! But there weren’t boos.
“I even said to Crofty [assistant manager Andrew Crofts] after the game: ‘How good were our fans today?’”