US settles for draw with Wales

The United States could have had three points. The United States should have had three points.

Instead, a poor second half punctuated by a penalty given away with 81 minutes gone Monday left them taking just one point against Wales following a 1-1 draw. The Americans will walk into Friday’s game against England needing a result to feel safe about their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage.

“We gave them a lifeline,” goalkeeper Matt Turner told Univision. “We dropped two points.”

Gareth Bale pounded the equalizing goal past Turner in the 81st minute on a penalty kick after a sliding challenge from Walker Zimmerman that looked as though the center back had simply forgotten his composure. The Americans had some issues with the officiating earlier on in the match, but this call was not contestable, and the tackle itself was borderline unjustifiable.

Turner went the right way, but Bale’s shot had too much on it, and the player who led Wales to its first World Cup finals since 1958 got them their first goal on the sport’s grandest stage in 64 years.

“No doubts in my head,” Bale told Britain’s ITV. “I feel like I have to step up and I’m happy to do so.”

The second half had just started to settle down for the United States after a slew of substitutions from coach Gregg Berhalter, but playing with a lead for so long proved more than the Americans could handle. In truth, the goal was coming — and this game had shades of the group stage match against Portugal in 2014, when Cristiano Ronaldo keyed Silvestre Varela’s 95th-minute equalizer.

In the group of death that year, though, such a result was survivable for the United States. It’s not yet clear that this one will be, especially if the U.S. can’t manage to eke out at least a point against England on Friday.

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Regardless, on a night that started in such promising fashion at Al Rayyan Stadium, to get only a draw felt like a loss.

“Walking into the locker room after the game, you could see the disappointment in the group,” Berhalter told reporters. “In the end, we got hurt by direct play from Wales.”

Tim Weah opened the scoring with a finish slotted past Wayne Hennessey in the midst of a dominant first half. The Americans, faced with a situation where they needed to possess the ball and break down a defense, proved that they could do so in the opening 45 minutes.

Wales spent that time ceding space and hoping to catch the U.S. out in transition, betting that their struggles in possession from qualifying would carry over to the World Cup. They did not, and the U.S. was, to a man, quick to the ball and hard-pressing whenever they lost it.

Finally, Christian Pulisic found Weah in behind and the son of Liberia’s soccer hero scored the first goal for an American in the World Cup since Julien Green on July 1, 2014.

As dominant as the first half was, the second brought questions. Berhalter seemed about 10 minutes late in subbing off midfielder Weston McKennie for Brendan Aaronson, and with Wales shifting to a more aggressive style after bringing on striker Kieffer Moore at halftime, the Americans found themselves on their heels.

It took Turner saving Ben Davies’ header by tipping it over the bar and some luck when Moore’s try went over all by itself for the United States to keep their lead intact before Berhalter brought on the cavalry, with Sergiño Dest, Kellyn Acosta, Haji Wright and DeAndre Yedlin coming on.

In the end, the lead fell anyway.

It’s not all disaster — a loss was the only scenario that would have completely doomed the United States, and their play through stretches, particularly the first half, proved that they belong here and are capable of making noise.

“The most important thing was that we didn’t lose,” Weah told Fox. “We kept it a tie, and now we just focus on the next game.”

Getting a point does indeed keep every possibility in play. But it is hard to get around the disappointment of this result, at least in its immediate aftermath.