Wales ‘not good enough at all’ in Romania defeat, says goalscorer Brooks

David Brooks felt Wales were “not good enough at all” during their 2-1 defeat by Romania on Saturday.

Craig Bellamy’s side were beaten in Bucharest, where the hosts prevailed in Gheorghi Hagi’s first match in charge.

Romania broke through the deadlock through Florinel Coman’s neat finish from a Darius Olaru cutback in the 52nd minute, but Brooks equalised 11 minutes later when he swept home a volley from Daniel James’ centre.

However, the hosts increased the pressure later on and snatched victory four minutes from time, as Adrian Rus headed home from David Matei’s cross.

FT |2-1

Defeat in Bucharest.

https://t.co/pTHPpVq16e pic.twitter.com/ox6XG9Vlvn

— Wales (@Cymru) June 6, 2026

Wales have now failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last nine matches under Bellamy, who is the first Dragons boss not to win any of his first five friendlies in charge (D2 L3) since Mike Smith in 1977.

That was despite 20 shots on goal and over 57% of possession, and Brooks concedes improvement is required before Wales’ Nations League campaign launches in September.

“We were not good enough, not at all,” he told Match of the Day Wales. “We need to watch it back and try and take some positives out of it.

“We kept the ball quite nicely, but we lacked penetrating passes. We played in the wrong areas.

“We need to be miles better in the Nations League and in the next camp.”