For Rob Page and his Wales team, preparation for this World Cup will have felt like a whirlwind. Only seven days separated competitive club matches and the onset of football’s showpiece event.
Over recent weeks, Page and his staff will have been monitoring their players moment by moment, play by play, exhaustively pondering their fitness.
But by Tuesday night, when Wales arrived in Qatar and settled into their Al Sadd Sports Club training base, there was very little he and his staff could do about about any fitness problems.
As the table below shows, several key players have lacked minutes in their respective leagues due to injury or limited selection as they head into their match against United States today.
Wales World Cup squad league minutes
| Player | Minutes | Caps |
|---|---|---|
| Sorba Thomas | 1564 | 6 |
| Ben Cabango | 1496 | 5 |
| Chris Gunter | 1485 | 109 |
| Tom Lockyer | 1409 | 14 |
| Connor Roberts | 1374 | 41 |
| Danny Ward | 1350 | 26 |
| Chris Mepham | 1252 | 33 |
| Jonny Williams | 1205 | 33 |
| Brennan Johnson | 1188 | 15 |
| Dylan Levitt | 1134 | 13 |
| Mark Harris | 1084 | 5 |
| Neco Williams | 1078 | 23 |
| Ben Davies | 995 | 74 |
| Ethan Ampadu | 838 | 37 |
| Matt Smith | 829 | 19 |
| Joe Rodon | 808 | 30 |
| Kieffer Moore | 747 | 28 |
| Aaron Ramsey | 574 | 75 |
| Dan James | 503 | 38 |
| Joe Allen | 493 | 72 |
| Gareth Bale | 370 | 108 |
| Joe Morrell | 352 | 30 |
| Adam Davies | 270 | 4 |
| Harry Wilson | 267 | 39 |
| Rubin Colwill | 258 | 7 |
| Wayne Hennessey | 0 | 106 |
One of those lacking minutes due to injury is Fulham winger Harry Wilson, who suffered a knee problem in a behind-closed-doors friendly before the Premier League season began, keeping him on the sidelines for around two months. However, he has been building up his minutes ahead of the tournament, featuring in seven league matches and starting three of Fulham’s last four. In those games, he averaged around an hour of play.
Joe Allen is in a different situation. He suffered a hamstring injury during Swansea’s Championship clash with Hull City on September 17. He has not played since, but returned to training this week in Qatar.
Others have not been selected as regularly as Page would probably like. Dan James, who has featured in…