The Wales national team’s opening game seemed tailor-made for Gareth Bale. In the summer, the attacker, 33, moved to his old age in Los Angeles in the USA after nine years with record European Cup winners Real Madrid, with whom he had celebrated five victories in the Champions League and three Spanish championships, to sign up for his first participation there to get in shape with Wales at a World Cup. Just the country that Bale met with his compatriots at the start.
However, the attacking specialist had to share the limelight with an American named Timothy Weah on Monday evening – just as Wales and the USA had to share the points in the 1-1 draw. Because of the draw, both countries are now even more involved in a long-distance duel behind the favored English for second place in Group B, which entitles them to reach the round of 16.
Timothy Weah, the 1-0 scorer, is 22, born in Brooklyn, New York – and the son of the famous George Weah, the 25th president of Liberia since 2018 and one of the best footballers Africa has ever produced. His sporting successes with Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, which even made him World Player of the Year in 1995, were never inferior to his humanitarian commitment. However, Weah Senior was always denied participation in a World Cup as a Liberian international. To date, the West African country has never qualified for such a tournament.
Timothy Weah stays cool and scores USA’s first World Cup goal in Qatar.
(Photo: David Klein/Sportimage/Imago)
Following in his father’s footsteps was Filius Timothy, who made at least a small piece of football history when he scored the opening goal for the USA in the 36th minute. After a fine pass from his teammate Christian Pulisic, Weah kept his nerves in front of Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and deliberately pushed the ball past him. While goalscorer Weah understandably hardly calmed down from euphoria when celebrating the goal at the corner flag, Bale straightened his distinctive braided hairstyle at the center circle. For this game he had dressed up extra fine, it was supposed to be his gala evening in the glittering city of Doha.
Like all his team-mates, he has had to wait until now to succeed with Wales at a World Cup. The Welsh nation had to wait even longer: 64 years. Back then, in 1958, the country from the British Isles with a population of three million reached the quarter-finals – and narrowly lost to Brazil. The 17-year-old Pelé scored the winning goal. Although Bale’s reputation does not quite match Pelé’s exceptional position in world football, he is revered at a similar level, at least in Wales itself.
Gareth Bale, almost invisible for a long time, collects two scorer points with one action.
In his home country, he is said to have supernatural powers – at least since he almost single-handedly secured his country’s World Cup ticket with decisive actions in the playoff duels with Austria and Ukraine. In fact, with his athletic and explosive style of play, Bale is often more reminiscent of an action hero than a footballer.
But there was almost nothing to be seen of his many spectacular acts and goals against the USA. After a dismal first half, in which the USA midfield around young professionals Weston McKennie, 24, Tyler Adams, 23, and Yunus Musah, 19, played impressively light-footed, the suspended Bale only got closer to the opposing goal as the game went on . At first he was largely disconnected from the game as the spearhead of his team – until he cleverly won a penalty with his first notable situation in the final phase and converted it himself in the 82nd minute of the game. In return, the Welsh supporters celebrated him with a standing ovation for minutes – which put Gareth Bale at the center of the game at least alongside Timothy Weah.
