Rob Page, the manager of Wales, expressed relief at picking up an “important point” in their World Cup opener against the United States and praised Gareth Bale for his cunning in converting a penalty kick in the second half.
The US took a deserved first-half lead through Timothy Weah, but an improved Welsh side came back in the second half and equalized through Bale’s 82nd-minute penalty kick.
The 1-1 draw puts both teams two points behind England after the first two games of Group B in Qatar, after the Three Lions beat Iran 6-2 earlier in the day, but Page was content with a point and suggested his team could have won it late on.
“It was a really important point for us,” he told reporters at his post-match press conference. “I thought for the last 10 minutes if anybody was going to go on to get the winner it was going to be us as well.”
Bale’s penalty made him the fourth player in Welsh history to score a World Cup goal, joining John Charles, Ivor Allchurch (two), and Terry Medwin in 1958.
The Los Angeles FC forward was relatively quiet throughout the rest of the match, but he once again stepped up when his nation needed him, winning the penalty when he outran USA defender Walker Zimmerman and was called for a foul.
“We’ve sort of evolved Gareth’s position, put it that way,” Page explained about his star player. “He can still play out wide, of course he can, but I like to give him the freedom to come inside and play off a frontman.
“He’s very good at finding those spaces, he’s intelligent, he’s got a wise head, so he puts himself in those positions in the box to be able to get us penalties, and defenders commit to making tackles, and if they don’t get their timing right in the box, inevitably it’s a penalty.”
Welsh fullback Neco Williams, who played 79 minutes at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, was visibly upset when the game ended and later admitted he hadn’t known his grandpa had passed away until last night.
Williams posted on Twitter after the game: “Yesterday was the toughest news I’ve ever had to face and that was listening to my mum tell me my grandad past away last night.
“To go from crying all day to start in a World Cup game was extremely tough but I got through it from the support of my team-mates and family.”
On Friday, Wales’ second Group B matchup is against Iran.
