Wales begin their first World Cup campaign in 64 years with a match against the USA at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.
Rob Page has only one injury concern ahead of the Group B fixture with Joe Allen confirmed to be out of the game. The Wales manager believes that England and USA are favourites to progress in the group but was bullish about his team’s chances.
Page told the BBC: “I’ve said to the group: ‘We’re not here to make the numbers up, we’re here because we’ve earned the right to be here, because we’re a good team, and I want to go and show the world how good we are.”
The USA have two key players that are injury doubts for the game with Weston McKennie and Sergino Dest both struggling for fitness. USA coach Gregg Berhalter told the press conference he wants his youthful team to be proactive: “We want to be an aggressive team in this game. We want to be able to hurt them, but we also know that they have strengths…and we want to be able to take them away.”
For Wales, the 64-year wait is nearly over, ar ben y byd.
Wales: 1 Hennessey, 5 Mepham, 6 Rodon, 4 Davies, 14 Roberts, 15 Ampadu, 10 Ramsey, 3 N Williams, 8 Wilson, 11 Bale, 20 James
USA: 1 Turner, 2 Dest, 13 Ream, 3 Zimmerman, 5 Robinson, 8 McKennie, 4 Adams, 6 Musah, 10 Pulisic, 21 Weah, 24 Sargent
