November 21, (THEWILL) – Gareth Bale was once again the talisman for Wales as he earned and converted a penalty kick to claim a 1-1 World Cup draw for his team against the United States men’s national team.
The USMNT dominated the first half of the match on Monday, at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, but Wales’ all-time best goal scorer and tournament scorer, Bale, came through when it mattered to prevent the Dragons from losing their first World Cup game since 1958.
In the first half, Timothy Weah gave the USA a well-deserved lead by scoring in a World Cup to one-up his famous father, 1995 Ballon d’Or winner George, who never played in a World Cup because Liberia could not qualify while he was active.
But Bale, who was relatively scarce prior to his late performance, drew a reckless tackle from Walker Zimmerman and duly scored the awarded penalty kick to secure a share of the Group B spoils for Wales.
The US, who last won a World Cup match five games ago, will now need to swiftly get over their regret at not being able to seal the victory today when they take on the raging Group B leaders England on Friday. Wales, however, will feel that their match against Iran is a must-win given that they play the Three Lions in an all-British match on the final day of group play.
