How Wales coach Page evolved Bale’s role for World Cup

Wales coach Rob Page has described the new role skipper Gareth Bale will continue to play at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, currently underway in Qatar.

Bale is known as a natural winger, cutting through into the box. However, when representing his national team, Wales, he is more of a central striker.

On Tuesday, Wales made their long awaited World Cup appearance as they played out to a one-all draw against the United States of America (USA).

Bale scored the equaliser from the spot kick in the 82nd minute to salvage a much-needed point for The Dragons.

PAGE EXPLAINS BALE’S NEW ROLE

“We’ve sort of evolved Gareth’s position, put it that way. He can still play out wide, but I like to give him the freedom to come inside and play off a frontman,” said Page in his post-match conference.

“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.

“Defenders commit to making tackles, and if they don’t get their timing right in the box, inevitably it’s a penalty.”

At the end of the match, captain Bale reflected on his first goal of the World Cup and what changed in the second half after a poor first half performance.

BALE REFELCTS

“It’s incredible [to have scored at a World Cup], but I would’ve rather have the three points, to be honest. It was always me [that was going to take the penalty]. No doubt in my head, I feel like I had to step up, and I’m happy to do so,” he said.

“It’s a great point; we showed great character again as we did in 2021 at the Euros. We go again. [It was] not a good first half, to be honest. They played really well, and we played poorly. But we talked with the gaffer at half-time and changed a few things around.

“The boys came out fighting and battling like we always do, we looked like we were going to win the game from the start of the second half,” Bale added.

The draw placed Wales second in Group B table at par with the United States.

Up next for Wales is a tie against Iran on Friday, November 25th.

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