USA came into the game off the back of some quite poor preparation which saw them lose to Japan 2-0 and then draw 0-0 with a poor Saudi Arabia side. The Americans will be wanting to show the quality they have developed in the year coming up. Leeds Player Tyler Adams will be captaining the side after some mixed results with Leeds the USA supporters will be hoping that he shows them what he has produced before in a USA Shirt and also the quality performances we have seen him put up against the top Premier league clubs.
Wales came into this game off the back of some losses but quite frankly these results don’t speak of the team performances that we have seen. They have come on massively and will be wanting to show the World just what Wales are about. Wales will be led by that man again Gareth Bale who no matter what seems to produce some world class moments and goals and will be wanting to get them off to a winning start.
USA start the game off the much better of the 2 sides they have been very tidy in possession and have been able to move the ball across the pitch with ease and they also took 2 shots one forced Wales keeper Wayne Hennessey into to action and the 2nd not long after a very nice cross found Josh Sargent whose header hit the outside of the post.
Then Wales had their first opportunity for a shot through Ethan Ampadu whose long range shot went well over the bar which has not forced Matt Turner into any type of save. Wales now starting to press the ball and USA are getting increasingly frustrated which saw 2 poor late challenges get booked and the Wales team will be looking to attack these areas more to hopefully force those players into making mistakes.
Very little in terms of real test for the USA keeper and Wales in the first 30 minutes have been extremely poor in terms of that last and pivotal ball seemed to be missing they have had very little of the ball and the traveling Red wall will be wanting to see vast improvements with their big test against rivals England just 8 days away.
USA finally found the ball in the back of the net after some very poor defending saw Timothy Weah 1 on 1 with the keeper and put into the back of the net to put USA 1-0 up and quite frankly that has been building for a very long time. Wales seemed to be starstruck and USA have done very well defending against Wales. One of the biggest things was the fact they found themselves able to keep Wales Talisman Gareth Bale out of the game with a majority of the first half being played in the Wales half.
Wales had their 2nd opportunity which was from a very good corner which found a Wales player but it was headed narrowly wide of the post. USA will want to take this 1-0 win into half time and give themselves another opportunity to regroup and score a 2nd goal in the 2nd half which quite frankly after this Wales performance would be almost able to see the game out.
Wales made a half-time sub which needed to happen and it saw Dan James come off who didn’t play very well and then saw Kieffer Moore come on and has been scoring for the club so will be wanting to convert that into international football. Already Wales were looking a lot stronger and Moore found himself holding up the ball but just did not get the necessary support needed to get a good cross into the box.
USA are again starting to make some extremely clumsy challenges and are giving Wales far too many opportunities to regain possession of the ball. There have been far too many of the passes have not been finding their man and meaning it has become a stop start game.
Wales had another opportunity after a free kick was swung into the box after a diving header from Ben Davies whose diving header was finger tipped over the bar from a diving Matt Turner and then another opportunity from the corner which was headed narrowly over from Kieffer Moore.
USA made their first sub of the evening which saw Weston Mckennie come off, replaced by Aaronson of Leeds United and then Wales seemed to be doing what USA have been doing for this 2nd half and giving USA an easy way out. Some more subs for the USA saw Josh Sargent, Sergino Dest and Yanus Musah replaced by DeAndre Yedlin, Kellyn Acosta and Haji Wright.
Wales made a substitution which saw Neco Williams come off and was replaced by Nottingham Forest's Brennan Johnson. Wales enjoying a lot of the ball in the last 30 minutes of the game and after pressure had been mounting Tim Ream gave away a absolutely sloppy penalty and Gareth Bale stepped up to take the penalty and puts into the back of the net to put Wales level 1-1 perhaps this is this started a very nervy ending to the game for USA.
The final USA sub saw Tim Weah come off and Jordan Morris comes on and will want to push Wales back into their half of the pitch. They dropped their guard far too much and let Wales enjoy much more of the ball and that has been very telling with Wales getting more shots off on target. Wales made another substitution and saw Harry Wilson replaced by Sorba Thomas and then Ethan Ampadu came off after making a very strong challenge and was replaced by Portsmouth’s Joe Morrell.
The game finished 1-1 and Wales will be left increasingly frustrated after they could not convert opportunities in the 2nd half into the all important 3 points in a group were the top 3 will be close every goal scored will count. Wales will be wanting to put this game at the back of their head and look forward to their next encounter in the group stage with Iran and USA will be playing one of the tournament favorites England.