England take on Wales at Wembley on Thursday night in a friendly, although Craig Bellamy insists there is no such thing.
Both teams are preparing for more important tasks in World Cup qualifying, but will certainly be taking the international local derby seriously.
Wales boss Bellamy said ahead of the game: ‘Due to where we are, England on the border with Wales, people would sense that as a rivalry. We’re not your rivals.
‘You understand that, yes? Because you have to be two top teams going at each other on a consistent basis to be a rival. We’re not.
‘But, to us, like against Canada, we don’t do friendlies. We’re here to win.’
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He added: ‘We’re here to come and play, and to play our brand of football the way we play, at an incredible place like Wembley, which it is.
‘So to us it is exciting. We’re not here as tourists, to enjoy the occasion, we’re here to be the best version of ourselves and that allows you to be excited and also to have fun as well.’
Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel expects a tough test and will field a strong side, with the competitive fixture against Latvia not till Tuesday.
‘It will be a difficult match and a complicated match because we play against a very well-coached team that have a brave approach to play,’ he said. ‘They will make the most of the underdog role, they will thrive in this role.
‘We have enough time for the next match that we don’t need to pay too much attention on the line-up – or maybe not at all – who plays and starts in Latvia because we have four days in between.’
When is England vs Wales?
The match kicks off at 7.45pm on Thursday October 9 at Wembley.
How to watch England vs Wales
The game is being shown live on ITV1, with streaming available on ITVX, coverage starting at 7pm.
There is also coverage on S4C, BBC iPlayer and S4C Clic.
Tuchel on squad selection
The likes of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden missed out on selection this time round.
‘We can only make it happen [a World Cup win] if we arrive with a strong, strong team,’ said Tuchel.
‘I just watched a documentary on the New England Patriots and saw a quote there: “We don’t collect the most talented players, we build a team”. I cannot agree more. That’s what we’re trying to do.
‘We decided to stick mostly with the team that had a brilliant camp last time. Already we have some injuries, we cannot play with the same XI against Serbia, because four players are already missing. It’s natural we have changes.’
England vs Wales last meeting
The last meeting between the nations came at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on November 29.
The Three Lions won 3-0 thanks to a brace from Marcus Rashford either side of a Phil Foden goal.
England have won their last seven games against Wales, with the last victory for the Welsh coming in 1984.