Wales ended their 64-year World Cup exile with a draw against USA after Gareth Bale struck from the spot to cap a second-half Red Dragons revival.The 33-year-old’s late heroics snatched Wales an invaluable point
Gareth Bale has started just two matches for LAFC since making ‘The City of Angels’ his home in June. He hasn’t completed 90 minutes at club level in almost two years, and that was against Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup. He is 33 years old and has just returned from injury. He admitted that he “prayed and prayed” to make Wales’ squad for this FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. And after making it, he wasn’t leaving the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium turf come hell or highwater. This was, after all, the Dragons’ first World Cup match in 64 years. And Bale is Mr Wales. He knows what he means to his team-mates, to the fans, and to an entire nation. It is a good job for them all that Bale steadfastly refused to contemplate taking a rest. With 10 minutes to go, long after Bale is usually rehydrating on the bench, he used everything he had left to get to the ball before his marker and win a penalty. Casual as you like amid astronomical pressure, he then stepped up and sent Matt Turner the wrong way to earn Wales an invaluable point.
Gareth Bale’s goal was the first for Wales at the FIFA World Cup since Terry Medwin scored their second goal in a 2-1 win against Hungary on 17 June 1958. Bale is the fourth Welshman to score in a World Cup match following John Charles, Ivor Allchurch and Medwin.
Gareth Bale said , “We were fully focused on this game. It was not a good first half, to be honest, they played really well and we were poor. It was a great talk from the coach at half-time and the boys came out fighting and battling and looked like we’d win the game.
“It’s a great point from where we were and we showed character, like we did in 2021 at the EURO. We had to come back stronger [after half-time] and show our character. I feel I have to step up [for penalties] and I am happy to do so. It feels incredible [to score in World Cup] but I’d rather have three points.”
The 33-year-old’s late heroics snatched Wales an invaluable point
Bengali