Coleman to clear air with Collins

James Collins has remained on the outside after a dispute over whether or not he rejected the chance to play for Wales last month
9 October 2013

Boss Chris Coleman will meet out-of-favour defender James Collins on Wednesday in a bid to patch up their differences and also Wales' injury-hit squad.

Coleman has seen 10 players pull out of his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers matches against Macedonia and Belgium, which could decide whether the 43-year-old retains his position in charge of the Dragons.

Wales have been hardest hit in defence - Ashley Williams withdrew with an ankle problem on Tuesday - but despite that West Ham centre-back Collins has remained on the outside after a dispute over whether or not he rejected the chance to play for his country last month.

Press Association Sport understands, however, that Coleman has agreed to meet Collins in Cardiff on Wednesday after the 41-cap veteran broke their silence with a phone call on Tuesday.

Coleman revealed last week that any resolution would need to be made face to face, and following Collins' contact he has agreed to speak to the player in order to settle their differences.

Should their meeting progress well there is a possibility that Collins could be drafted into the Wales squad in time for the Macedonia game in Cardiff on Friday.

The loss of Williams on Tuesday has left Coleman him with painfully few centre-half options with Chris Gunter and Owain Tudur Jones, normally a midfielder and last capped in May 2011, tipped to start against Macedonia.

Coleman has also seen the world's most expensive player Gareth Bale, Liverpool's Joe Allen, Celtic midfielder Joe Ledley and Brighton's Andrew Crofts withdraw on the day of last Thursday's squad announcement, with the quintet of Adam Matthews, Ben Davies, Danny Gabbidon, Sam Ricketts and Jack Collison following on Monday.

The injury crisis could yet get worse as Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey took no part in training on Tuesday due to a leg injury.

The exclusions have threatened to undermine the end to Craig Bellamy's 15-year international career after the forward announced he would end his time on the international stage after next week's game in Brussels.

Bellamy will go out disappointed never to have played in a major tournament, but the 34-year-old striker believes the reason for that has simply been because Wales were not good enough to qualify for a finals for the first time since 1958.

Bellamy believes the current crop of players, including Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen and Ben Davies, are good enough to end that wait, but that far too many of the sides he played in were never up to the task.

He said: "The quality of players we have, this is not like other teams down the years.

"We haven't qualified for major tournaments because the teams have not been good enough, and I have not been good enough, it's a simple fact.

"We have to get out of that routine of being poor old Wales."

He added: "A lot of games I felt we could not compete and that was really difficult to live with. I can handle getting beaten, I have never been afraid of losing, but not being able to lay a glove on someone is difficult to take.

"There have been a lot of games and regimes where I did not feel we were able to do that, and that hurt more than anything."

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