Wales and USA draw a blank in bore draw

WALES were held to a goalless draw in the absence of manager Ryan Giggs as the United States shared the honours in a Swansea friendly. There was plenty of youthful vigour on show and no little intensity, but neither side carried a cutting edge to break the deadlock. Robert Page, a former Wales captain, was in temporary charge of the Dragons with Giggs, having denied an allegation of assault made against him, not involved at the Liberty Stadium. The US players had pledged to take an anti-racism stand ahead of their first game since the death of George Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis, at the hands of police officers in May. The squad emerged from the tunnel with ‘End Police Brutality’, ‘Be Anti-Racist’ and ‘World Peace’ just some of the slogans emblazoned on the back of their training tops. Gareth Bale was absent from Wales’ 23-man squad as Chris Gunter won his 98th cap. The USA — ranked two places below Wales at 22 in the FIFA world rankings — had not played since February and named a team with seven players aged 23 and under. The USA started in positive fashion with Giovanni Reyna prominent, but Kieffer Moore’s aerial ability was a distinct threat for Wales and the Cardiff striker held up the ball impressively. Neither goalkeeper was troubled in the opening halfhour before the contest suddenly opened up. Danny Ward gathered Sergino Dest’s low crossshot in his six-yard box and then launched a counterattack, which saw Moore set up Tom Lawrence to force a save from Zack Steffen. Sebastian Lletget then forced a decent stop from Ward at the start of the second half. But the game fizzled out as Wales protected their two-year unbeaten home record.