Ethan Ampadu agrees with Leeds United teammate as World Cup disappointment clear
The Leeds United skipper won't be heading to this summer's World Cup.
Leeds United’s Ethan Ampadu was keen to prove his Wales side could compete against World Cup-level opposition after failing to make the tournament themselves.
Wales drew the first of their two June friendlies 1-1 against Ghana in Cardiff on Tuesday. The African nation are in a World Cup group with England but Ampadu’s side failed to qualify, rendering their end-of-season friendlies - the second of which is against Romania on Saturday - virtually meaningless.
Ghana went ahead on 68 minutes through Caleb Yirenkyi but substitute Lewis Koumas levelled for Wales in added-time. Four Leeds stars were in action, with Ampadu and goalkeeper Karl Darlow playing the full game while Daniel James and Joe Rodon also started.
Darlow admitted it hasn’t been easy preparing for two June friendlies with no major tournament to look forward to. But while Ampadu agrees he’d much rather be preparing for a World Cup, the Leeds and Wales skipper also wanted to lay down a marker on Tuesday.
“We’d rather it have been a friendly leading up to a World Cup but we had to put that aside, make sure we finished the season strong,” Ampadu said. “It was obviously against a team that is going to the World Cup so we knew they’d have a lot of quality.
“We wanted to maybe show everyone what we could have done, even though it doesn’t really matter, but we wanted to put in a performance that Wales can be proud of. Obviously the 150th anniversary kit, the history that comes before us, we wanted to represent that well. We wanted to win.”
Ethan Ampadu on Wales half-time team talk
Wales might have felt unfortunate to have gone into half-time level, with Ampadu’s Leeds teammate James twice striking the woodwork. He saw a header brilliantly tipped onto the post by Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi before a snapshot crashed off the crossbar shortly after.
As has often been the case in a Leeds shirt over the past season, Ampadu largely bossed things in midfield during the first-half. He and others faded a little after the break but at least avoided defeat through Koumas’ first senior international goal.
Asked what Bellamy said at half-time, Ampadu replied: “Just to keep raising our levels, to keep getting better, to keep improving individually and as a collective to take the team on and get better. To get better at the things we’ve worked on all week, and over the last two years.
“And to just be a little bit calmer on the ball, a bit more patient, work our processes. I think we showed that at times in the game, obviously we’re disappointed with the goal conceded, maybe we all could have done a little bit better with that but at halftime he just said to keep building, keep pushing, keep the foot on the gas and put in a performance we could be proud of.”