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The key Wales players lacking minutes ahead of USA clash

CTN News

 

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…

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