Gareth Bale is among five other Welsh stars missing out on World Cup training due to workload management.
Their absence is “completely normal” though, and shouldn’t be a concern for the Dragons’ opener against the United States – but Joe Allen’s fitness is still at stake.
AFP
Wales lost five of their stars in training on Saturday
AFP
Bale – Wales’ all-time leading goalscorer – was one of the stars watching from the sidelines
Wales are just two days away from playing their first World Cup game since 1958, with the country rallying alongside Robert Page as they prepare to take on the world stage for the second time.
But as the Dragons entered their penultimate day of preparation for their draw against the United States in Group D on Monday, five of their players were unable to participate in training.
It’s understood Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Chris Mepham, Jonny Williams and Ethan Ampadu are the stars whose workload is managed.
However, fans have been reassured that the decision to rest them is not cause for concern ahead of their opener.
Meanwhile, veteran midfielder Allen’s fitness is still in doubt for the USA game.
The ex-Liverpool star mainly trained alone, away from the rest of the squad, as he recovered from a hamstring injury, and hadn’t played a game since mid-September .
Allen returned to training earlier this week but is unlikely to be available for the game against USA.
But earlier this week, former Dragons striker Dean Saunders underlined how important the Swansea City star will be for his country in Qatar, even if he is not fully fit.
“The key man for us is Joe Allen,” he told talkSPORT.
“If Joe doesn’t play, we don’t have a Premier League midfielder, or even a Championship one, that we can fit in.”
You can listen to Wales v USA live on talkSPORT, with kick off scheduled for 7pm.
talkSPORT World Cup 2022 coverage
talkSPORT will provide wall-to-wall coverage of the 2022 World Cup
We will broadcast all 64 matches of the tournament live, with over 600 hours of coverage on our network.
You can tune into talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 via our free online streaming service at talkSPORT.com.
talkSPORT is widely available across the UK via DAB digital radio and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
You can also download the talkSPORT app or ask your smart speaker to play talkSPORT.
