USA 1-1 Wales: Bale rescues late draw for Wales against the USA
Welcome back to the World Cup Wales. Having waited 64 years to make just their second-ever appearance on football’s grandest stage, a late penalty from Gareth Bale (who else?) rescued a 1-1 draw against the USA.
A first-half goal from Timothy Weah gave the States a deserved lead, but the half-time introduction of Kieffer Moore turned the game on its head.
Despite having to suffer long spells without possession, courtesy of Joe Allen’s absence, Wales were more than deserving of Bale’s 82nd-minute equaliser after the talisman was felled by Walker Zimmerman.
No Allen in the middle of the park led manager Rob Page to sacrifice an out-and-out attacker in favour of Harry Wilson – a forward-thinking midfielder deemed more capable of plugging gaps the Swansea City man would usually cover.
But with Wilson too often caught ahead of the ball on the left and Aaron Ramsey guilty of similar on the opposite side, the US dominated the middle of the park.
For all their domination of the ball, it was in fact a red shirt that nearly opened the scoring for Gregg Berhalter’s side.
Joe Rodon headed a vicious Weah cross in the direction of his own goal in the 9th minute, forcing Wayne Hennessey into a smart reaction save, and in the same passage of play Norwich City forward Josh Sergeant clipped the outside of the post with a header of his own.
Even though the Welsh looked comfortable when the tempo was slow and their defence was set, the US were by far the more threatening side when play became broken and space opened up.
This was exemplified to devastating effect with half-time approaching, as after Ethan Ampadu was beaten to a bouncing ball in midfield, Christian Pulisic sprang forward before releasing Weah to stab an effort beyond Hennessey.
Page’s men responded after the interval, as the introduction of Kieffer Moore provided a welcome source of relief for a backline that appeared constantly uncertain in possession.
With 6ft 5 Moore on the field, it was little surprise that Wales’s began to generate opportunities from set-pieces.
After a free kick was only partially cleared on 64 minutes, a Ben Davies header forced Matt Turner into his first save of the evening.
Moore headed agonisingly over the crossbar from the resulting corner from what seemed destined to be Wales’s best chance of an equaliser.
However, an intelligent quick throw-in from Brennan Johnson began a move that ended with Bale being brought down in the penalty area by Zimmerman.
The touch before the foul was Bale’s first in the US penalty area on the night, his second saw him pick out the top right corner from 12 yards via the hand of Turner.
Iran’s heavy defeat to England earlier in the day means these two sides appear the most likely to progress from Group B.
This pulsating draw offered few signs to suggest who should be considered the favourite.
