Highlights: International friendly - Wales 0-1 Canada

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales at the Swansea.com Stadium

A young and experimental Wales side were outplayed by Canada as they lost their friendly encounter in Swansea.

The exuberant visitors, joint hosts of next year's World Cup alongside the USA and Mexico, twice hit the woodwork before taking a well-deserved first-half lead through Rangers forward Derek Cornelius' spectacular free-kick from 30 yards.

With only three players retained from last Thursday's World Cup qualifying win in Kazakhstan, the sweeping changes were evident as Wales served up a disjointed performance.

This was only Craig Bellamy's second defeat in 12 matches as head coach but, having specifically chosen Canada as opponents because he wanted his team to be properly tested, Bellamy and his players will have learned a great deal from this experience.

As for the visitors, with something close to their strongest available line-up, this fluent display suggested they could make a big impression at their home World Cup.

Analysis: Callow Wales outrun and outplayed

This was Bellamy's first friendly in charge of Wales and, as he hoped, Canada - three places higher than his side in the world rankings - exposed his fringe players to a standard they may not have previously encountered.

Bellamy had been particularly impressed by the physical strengths of Jesse Marsch's side - their speed in attack, high pressing and general intensity in and out of possession.

Even in a friendly, those attributes were on full display as Canada gave Wales a thorough working over.

The away side had already created a handful of half-chances by the time Ismael Kone hit the post - an opportunity that was presented by Neco Williams' stray pass, one of many by Wales.

The home side managed a couple of efforts on goal - Daniel James squandering the best opening with a tame shot - but they spent much of the game on the back foot.

Canada defender Luc De Fougerolles hit the crossbar with an audacious volleyed backheel from a corner and, just a minute later, the hosts' luck ran out as Cornelius unleashed a vicious, dipping left-footed free-kick into the net.

Unusually for a friendly, there was a real edge to this game, with seven yellow cards - including one for former Leeds boss Marsch - as tempers flared.

But as is often the case in these fixtures, things cooled as the game's tempo dropped off in the second half with both sides making several substitutions.

Although there were few, if any, standout Wales performances, Bellamy was able to give debuts to three players: right-back Ronan Kpakio from the start and midfielders Joel Colwill and Kai Andrews from the bench.

That was always the aim for this fixture. A positive result would obviously have been preferable but, most importantly, Bellamy will hope this experience will stand his team in good stead when they resume their World Cup qualifying campaign next month.

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