FT: WALES 1 - 1 U.S.A. Match thread

[blue matt]

My first thought was ot should be a red card. He was about to shoot, which is about as close to a goalscoring opportunity as you can get.

one of the USA soccer channels did a VAR on it and they said " straight RED "

[Kind of Blue]

one of the USA soccer channels did a VAR on it and they said " straight RED "

I’ll amend my one comment about the ref being card happy, that probs should have been a red. Even despite the distance you’d have given Bale a good chance of making that with the goalie so far out. It did stop a goal scoring opportunity.

[Hilts]

There was no way Bale was scoring that. Booking was correct.

[The Bloop]

There was no way Bale was scoring that. Booking was correct.

Doesnt matter whether he would have scored or not - It was an opportunity to score, so a red card

[the other bob wilson]

There was no way Bale was scoring that. Booking was correct.

Agreed.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

My heart sank when Moore came on but I must admit his time at Bournemouth has been beneficial by the look of it. He certainly looked less of a "headless chicken" than he used to do at City.

Are you on smack? Have you watched him play for Wales, and did you actually watch him play for us?

[BlueArmy 86]

1st 1/2

I've never seen first half written like this

[NYCBlue]

There was no way Bale was scoring that. Booking was correct.

It was a goal scoring opportunity. Red card.

Too late anyway. I don't know why we're even talking about it.

[City123]

A good side would have put us away in the first half, we really were there for the taking but despite that the US didn't really create much. We showed them far too much respect

We were far better second half and if Davies or Moore had scored their headers I think we go on to win that one. If we can put in that second half performance against Iran (particularly the first 25 or so minutes of it) then we should be ok.

At the end of the day I imagine the US are absolutely gutted. They're the second seed and should be beating the fourth seed, they're under pressure now

[Kind of Blue]

At the end of the day I imagine the US are absolutely gutted. They're the second seed and should be beating the fourth seed, they're under pressure now

Weren't Wales in a bit of an artificial seeding pot due to Ukraine invasion delaying our PO games? We’re only a couple of rungs apart on the rankings from each other too. Don’t deny they’ll be under pressure though and rueing not doing more with their dominance in the first half.

[ToTaL ITK]

The negativity in this thread is incredible when you consider that we’ve just played our first match at a World Cup Finals in sixty four years and we got what in the end was a deserved draw against a team which was slightly above us in the world rankings. I think people get spoilt because we’ve qualified for the knock out phase of the three major tournaments we’ve been in before now and are expecting, not hoping for, the same again from what, according to the rankings is the hardest group in this World Cup.

For years we had a team that people would look at and say we had a good, young squad with a lot of potential and in 2016 especially, they fulfilled that potential. Now that “golden generation” are old in football terms, the two best talents from that era are,understandably given the injuries they’ve had and the passing of time, not the same players any more and last night we were missing a very important central midfielder who is also not the player he once was.

Apart from Ben Davies, we don’t have any truly top class performers who are “the right age” for this tournament- we’re a team with a nucleus of great and good players on their way down or promising young ones on the way up. We may not have another golden generation coming through, but they’re, potentially, good enough to ensure that we don’t go so long without qualifying once the trail blazers we have now have retired. We’re a very small country in comparison to most who are here and we’re not as strong as we were six years ago - that’s the reality of our situation.

what a load of cobblers..why should our football history have any influence on how we play today? look at the saudis they didn't give a toss and won against the favs Argentina. Doesn't matter how many Bales or Davies's we have, we have to show up on the day and play the football we know we can .

[the other bob wilson]

what a load of cobblers..why should our football history have any influence on how we play today? look at the saudis they didn't give a toss and won against the favs Argentina. Doesn't matter how many Bales or Davies's we have, we have to show up on the day and play the football we know we can .

When did we last play the "football we know we can"? We deservedly drew against a team above us in the rankings after a horror first half, yet there are people like you carrying on as if it's still 2016 when we had two players selected in the team of the tournament as well as a much better version of Gareth Bale than the current one. As for "showing up", what do you think we did in the second half?