Wales match is postponed

Wales' route to the Euro 2004 finals has been knocked off course by UEFA's decision to postpone their match with Serbia and Montenegro next week for security reasons.

If Wales are going to reach next summer's finals, they are going to have to do it the hard way with a spell of three tough internationals in 22 days at the beginning of next season.

The decision taken at UEFA's Rome congress after lengthy talks between the Football Association of Wales (FAW) and Serbian FA means that manager Mark Hughes's team will have to play their two toughest Group Nine away games in Serbia and then Italy during that spell.

The new date for the Serbia match, expected to be staged in Belgrade, is August 20th, which is also the first Wednesday of the Premiership season.

Serbia is currently under a state of emergency following the assassination of their Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic a fortnight ago. The Serbian Government this week told their FA that they would not be allowed to stage the Wales match because they feared political unrest if 50,000 fans were gathered together in the Red Star Stadium - mass meetings are forbidden under the current emergency regulations.

So now Hughes knows he will have to take his team to Belgrade on August 20th, face Italy away on September 6th and then play Finland back in Cardiff on September 10th.

UEFA director of communications Mike Lee said: "August 20th is an international match date, which has been earmarked for friendlies.

"But we will discuss with FIFA turning this into a full international matchday so that the two associations will have full claim on their players being available."

Hughes will almost certainly select Craig Bellamy for Saturday's Millennium Stadium meeting with Azerbaijan, where victory will give them four straight group wins.

The Newcastle striker has not been charged or served with a summons following an incident in Cardiff on Sunday night that has been investigated by the police.

The evidence has been passed to the Criminal Prosecution Service by South Wales Police for a decision on whether Bellamy will be charged, but until then Hughes would be under no pressure to drop the striker.