Wales’ forward Gareth Bale warms up with his team mates during a training session at the Al Saad SC in Doha. AFP
The USA need to match the intensity of Wales when they meet in their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2002 Group B fixture at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium today, said coach Gregg Berhalter.
The kick-off is at 10pm.
“Wales are a good team, solid players, and with different makers. They are underrated and overall it’s a solid team. We have to match their intensity and come with a positive mindset,” Berhalter told the media yesterday.
Qatar 2022 is a historic occasion for Wales as they are playing in the global showpiece event after 64 years.
Wales coach Rob Page said they cannot take the US for granted in a group that also has England and Iran.
“Let’s not take the US for granted, they have been here [World Cup] before. We would have to be at our very best to compete with the US,” he said.
Players of the United States warm up during a training session at Al Gharafa SC Stadium in Doha yesterday. AFP
Berhalter has brought the youngest-ever US team to a World Cup after 1990. In Qatar 2022, the US are the second youngest after Ghana.
Twenty-three-year-old Tyler Adams will captain the US.
“Tyler is a worthy captain and we are proud to have him as that,” Berhalter said.
The midfielder is the youngest captain at Qatar 2022.
“It’s a huge honour to be named captain of this team…anyone can be captain on our team and we have established we lead in different ways,” Adams said.
“I wanna represent this team and my country in the right way. I know we have the support system and we have built this over the last three years.”
“The last three years we have built an identity… if we look at the team now and how far we have come, a lot has changed and for the better,” he said talking about the team.
On the Welsh challenge Adams said his team understands the strengths of the opponents.
“We are looking at the game and thinking how we can be successful. We know they have strengths and we want to take them away. We know it’s not just 11 on the field and we may need the solution to come on the field and get us the win.
“You have your game plan which you wish your group can execute and you have unexpected moments where you are forced to compete e and that is hard to coach and is down to the player’s mentality. Adaptability is huge in football especially in a tournament. When game plans don’t go well we have to be able to adapt and one thing I know about the team is we can adapt.”
Experienced Wales captain Gareth Bale, 33, said seeing his country in a World Cup is a dream come true.
“As a kid you dream of seeing Wales in a World Cup, but to actually be in the team that achieves it is an incredible feeling and an honour to be able to do it for our country,” Bale said.
“Everyone’s dreamt of it for such a long time. We’ve had so many close calls. For us to be the team to get over the line was incredible.”
Page said Wales will not have the services of 32-year-old experienced midfielder Joe Allen through injury for today’s clash.
“We would have liked him available but we won’t push him to the point where we completely lose him for the tournament,” Page said.
The Wales coach said fans have played a massive part in their qualification to the World Cup.
“I want to thank them for their commitment and coming to Qatar.”
He said his players are ready for the challenge.
“The players are ready; we want need to fire them up. They are ready for the game; we have a game plan and have done the analysis. We are all looking forward to the kickoff.”
Talking about the group he said his team is ready to give a tough competition to England and the US.
“Naturally people will talk about England and USA. We can more than compete as well. We are new to the tournament and there might be surprises on the way. We are gonna compete and we are under no pressure but to show the world how good we are.
“We’ve got a way of playing that has brought us success and we won’t move away from that. We have a game plan that we know will enable us compete with a good USA team.”
