Bellamy brings the curtain down on Wales career after a topsy-turvy 15 years.

Craig Bellamy will bring the curtain down on his international career in Wales’s final World Cup qualifier against Belgium tonight. Here, Sportsmail charts the highs and lows of Bellamy’s colourful time with Wales.

Captain: Bellamy makes his final appearance for Wales after 15 years of service

 

Highs

International debut

Bellamy won the first of his 77 caps for Wales on March 25, 1998, in a friendly game against Jamaica at Ninian Park, coming on as a substitute for Gareth Taylor.
The 18-year-old, who had come through the ranks at Norwich, described himself as ‘incredibly proud’, but, as detailed below in his ‘lows’ column, this occasion turned into a shocking eye-opener.

First Wales goal

In only his second match for Wales, and his first trip away with the senior national side, Bellamy scored his first international goal on June 4, 1998 in a 3–0 win over Malta. He later came close to getting in a punch up with fans on a night out after the game.
In his brilliant autobiography, GoodFella, he described how goalkeeper Simon Howarth hauled him into a taxi just as ‘two or three’ men started swinging at him.

Over and out: Bellamy will finish his international stint on 78 caps, but will want to add to his 19 goals

The goal that saved Bobby Gould’s job

Wales were struggling ahead of their Euro 2000 qualifier against Denmark on October 10, 1998 and Bobby Gould’s weird and wild reign looked like it was about to come to an end.
Bellamy scored the winner with a late header in a 2-1 victory, but he was later confronted by a less-than-impressed Dean Saunders, who said: ‘You do realise you’ve just saved this guy’s job.’ Bellamy’s status in Wales changed after this win.

Saved: Gould (right) was heading for the door before Bellamy's late winner against Denmark in 1998

Winner against Italy

The qualification campaign for Euro 2004 was, by the far, the most promising period of Wales’s international history. Bellamy was central to the finest moment of that campaign, as Wales beat Italy 2-1 on October 16, 2002.
With the scores level at 1-1, Bellamy, having earlier set up Simon Davies’s opener, rounded Gianluigi Buffon in the second half and scored a goal that sent Wales top of Group Nine.

Moment in history: Bellamy scores the winner against Italy in qualification for Euro 2004

Performance v Slovakia in 2008

This Euro 2008 qualifier was described by Bellamy as ‘just about my best performance for Wales’. Wales won 5-2 away from home and Bellamy scored twice, while contending with the illness of his daughter Lexi.

 

Lows

International debut

It didn’t take long for Bellamy to realise the shambolic way in which the Welsh team was run when he received his first call up by Bobby Gould in 1998.
He described it as ‘a black comedy’, made worst when Gould attempted to settle his differences with John Hartson by staging a wrestling match.
Gould told Hartson to vent his frustrations and he did, throwing Gould to the floor and leaving him with a bloodied nose. ‘I had to pinch myself to make sure it was happening,’ Bellamy said.

Is this really happening? Bellamy witnessed Hartson (right) in a wrestling match with Bobby Gould

Hammered in Italy

Bobby Gould prepared Bellamy for a 4-0 hammering against Italy in Bologna on June 5, 1999 by taking him through pictures of the Italian team, pointing out each player and describing how good he was.
‘I barely slept that night,’ Bellamy said. ‘It was a bad, bad day. They could have won by as many as they wanted to.’ Gould resigned after the match.

The bad old days

In Bellamy’s first game as captain, on October 7, 2006, they were trounced 5-1 at home against Slovakia. It was Wales’s heaviest home defeat for 98 years.
‘What is there to look back on? It was a disaster and one of my lowest points,’ Bellamy said. ‘I hope this is not a return to the bad old days for both our team and support.’

Club versus country

Bellamy has been involved in numerous club versus country rows, but his most notable was in October 2010 when he played a full game for Cardiff after manager Dave Jones had told Wales manager Brian Flynn that he was not fit enough to play for his country.
Having been pulled out of Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland, Bellamy scored and played 94 minutes in Cardiff’s 2-1 win at Barnsley.

Club or country: Bellamy was constantly involved in rows regarding his allegiance to his club or Wales