A late foul by the United States on Gareth Bale provided a penalty kick for Wales to draw the opening match 1–1 in Group B on Monday, Nov. 21, in Al Rayyan, Qatar.
The U.S. Men’s National Team failed to qualify for the last World Cup, while Wales returned for the first time in 64 years in front of a crowd of more than 43,000 at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Two-time defensive MLS player of the year, Walker Zimmerman, took down Gareth Bale (LAFC) with an unforced slide tackle as Bale faced away from goal receiving a pass in the center of the box.
“He probably just puts his leg [out], not for the ball, but to try and get in the way of me hitting the ball,” said Zimmerman. “So I kind of went through him and I think I still got the ball. But clever move—I wish I would have seen him out of the corner of my eye.”
Wales’ all-time top scorer with 41 goals, converted the penalty kick in the 82nd minute with a powerful left-footed strike into the top right corner past American goalkeeper Matt Turner—rousing the “Red Wall” of fans from Wales into an enormous roar.
“Obviously, a difficult game,” said Bale. “First half was not how we wanted to play, and the United States played really well. We played quite poorly.”
The extremely physical game saw Wales controlling the second half following a dominant first half by the Americans—the second youngest team in the tournament.
The U.S was called for four yellow cards (Sergiño Dest, Weston McKennie, Tim Ream and Kellyn Acosta) compared to two by Wales.
The Americans kept possession 59 percent of the match with six shots, with one on goal, while Wales took seven shots forcing Turner into two exceptional saves.
Timothy Weah was on the receiving end of a forward pass by captain Christian Pulisic, punching an outside-of-the-right-foot shot past the out-coming goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey for a 1–0 lead in the 36th minute.
“It’s a dream come true for every attacker, for every player to score in a World Cup,” Weah said, “and I did that tonight in front of my fans, my teammates, my family.”
Weah is the son of former FIFA World Player of the Year and president of Liberia George Weah.
“The nerves were there,” said Pulisic. “Now we have to figure out how to put that together for 90 minutes.”
The U.S. will face Group B top seed England on Friday—who completely dominated Iran 6–2 earlier in the day.
U.S. midfielder Gio Reyna is expected to see action against England as coach Gregg Berhalter previously held him from play for muscle tightness.
The second match in Group A saw Netherlands eventually scoring two late goals to take down Senegal 2–0. The opening game yesterday in the Group resulted in Ecuador taking down host Qatar 2–0.
