by Callum Ellis
WALES Under-21 manager Rob Page will be without Swansea City’s Joe Rodon for the upcoming UEFA European Under-21 matches, thanks to the defender getting a call up to the senior squad.
Rodon has replaced Newcastle United’s Paul Dummett and won’t now travel with Page’s side for their Championship Qualifying double-header against Romania and Switzerland.
Despite being unable to qualify for next year’s tournament in Italy, Wales head to Romania for a game on Friday, before welcoming Switzerland to Newport County’s Rodney Parade four days later.
Sheffield Wednesday defender Ashley Baker is included in the squad after a positive start to the season having featured six times for the Owls.
Highly-rated Manchester City forward Rabbi Matondo is also named, alongside Cardiff City loanee Mark Harris who has played a role in Newport County’s rise to third in League Two.
But George Thomas has also linked up with Ryan Giggs’ first team after netting two goals for Page’s side last month.
Qualification for next year’s tournament is not possible for Wales after suffering a mixture of results throughout the campaign, but Page remains upbeat ahead of the remaining games.
Speaking ahead of the double-header, Page said: “We want to finish on a high and as far up the group as we can. We’ve got a tough game against Romania and from a physical point of view, we all saw what they were capable of at home with a couple of players sent off late on. We’ve got to match them.”
Wales overcame Liechtenstein with a 2-1 victory in Bangor last month, before falling to a 2-0 deal against Portugal.
“I was pleased with the two home performances. I thought we could have had more goals against Liechtenstein but they just didn’t come. We created enough chances but our end product wasn’t good enough.
“It was a different type of test against Portugal, but again I thought we created enough chances to win the game, then we get done with a 25-yard goal and a deflection for the second goal.”
He added: “We want to go to Romania and give a good account of ourselves and then finish at Newport against Switzerland with a win.”
The Wales squad in full:
Luke Pilling, Owen Evans, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Regan Poole, Cameron Coxe, Cian Harries, Isaac Christie-Davies, Aaron Lewis, Mark Harris, Alex Babos, Joe Morrell, Rabbi Matondo, Daniel James, Ashley Baker, Brandon Cooper, Robbie Burton.
