Wales v Mexico Competition - International Friendly Date - Saturday 27 March 2021 Kick off - 20:00 Venue - Cardiff City Stadium (aka Legoland) Wales take on Mexico in an international friendly at the Cardiff City Stadium this evening. The Welsh team will be looking to bounce back from their midweek loss to Belgium in a World Cup qualifier, while Mexico are in action for the first time this year. There is no shame in losing to the side ranked number one in international football, but there will perhaps be a slight sense of disappointment for Wales following Wednesday's loss to Belgium. Harry Wilson opened the scoring for the visitors early on in Leuven, only for Kevin de Bruyne, Thorgan Hazard and Romeu Lukaku to earn a 3-1 comeback win for the Belgians. Wales had gone four games without defeat against Belgium and had chances to take a point in this latest encounter, but it was not to be as their World Cup qualifying campaign got off to a losing start. That now puts added importance on next Tuesday's home clash with Czech Republic, whom Wales are expected to go head-to-head with for a playoff spot in Group E. This friendly with Mexico is awkwardly placed between two key qualifiers, meaning that Rob Page - in caretaker charge for a fifth game as Ryan Giggs remains under investigation due to an allegation of assault - will name a weakened side. This will be just the fifth ever encounter between the sides, the most recent of those finishing in a 0-0 draw in Los Angeles a little under three years ago. Mexico have yet to taste defeat to Wales, with two wins and two draws from those four previous meetings. In some respects, the main ‘highlight’ of tonight’s match will be Chris Gunter earning his 100th Welsh Cap - to mark this considerable achievement, he will be captaining the side. Gunter made his international debut under John Toshack way back in 2007. Possible Wales team for this evening: Hennessey; Gunter (capt), Mepham, Rodon, Cabango, Norrington-Davies; Levitt, Smith; Lawrence, Robson-Kanu/Moore, Matondo.
It's a friendly, but it's a chance for some of the players to get some game time. Hopefully a few can put in a performance to build confidence for the strength of the squad. Hennessey Cognac- I assumed he was injured because he didn't play against Belgium ? Mepham Services needs a bit more time. Cabango Cabango they drink it in the Congo. Admiral Norrington-Davies shows moments. Hakuna Matondo - no worries. and Kiefer Moore.
Will have to give this one a miss. Got to clean the oven Mexico currently ranked 9 in the world so they are a top outfit (if they put out their best side...)
Unfortunately this will probably be a bore with both teams treating the game as a friendly...hope Connor is rested for the whole match and Cabango taken off at half time to give some one else a run out
So we,Welsh, can't cross the border into England but a football team from Mexico can travel to Wales to play apointless football friendly!! I really do fukn give up. As the song says....."Enough is enough"
Equally, Mexicans can't cross the border into the USA but the Welsh football team could travel to Mexico to play a pointless friendly. No need to get worked up.
Luxembourg's fourth away victory ever in World Cup or European Championship qualifiers. In 125 games. Four wins, 10 draws, 111 defeats.
Good result and no injuries for Connor and Ben though Johnny Iniesta...limped off.....ROI are in a mess thankfully Wales are not at the moment....
"The Netherlands bounced back from their disappointment against Turkey with victory over Latvia, as Stephanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup qualifier." BBC "The game was played in front of 5,000 home fans in the 55,000-capacity Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam. The lucky few had to follow strict Covid-19 protocols to get the chance to watch the national side." BBC The strict Covid-19 protocols would appear to be: 1) DO NOT wear a face mask 2) NO NEED to do any social distancing
I'm hoping there's more to it. It says they had to follow strict protocols to get the chance to watch the national side. Which might suggest getting a test beforehand/self-isolating. But to put them all in the same place in the stadium looks a bit mad. Or if it was proved none of them had Covid perhaps that's OK?
It has happened pre the last lockdown at a couple of UK lower league games , didn't make sense to me , cramming supporters in to one stand , but what do I know.
This was certainly a controlled experiment: "In a government-backed initiative called Back to Live organised by the publicly funded agency Fieldlab, 5,000 ticket-holders will be allowed to enter the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Latvia provided they have tested negative for the coronavirus at special sites from 8am that morning and recorded that on a CoronaCheck app with a QR code. They will be divided into different sections, with some having to wear face masks but others allowed to go without to show their support for Frank de Boer’s side, who lost 4-2 in Turkey on Wednesday. "We are all really looking forward to this,” said De Boer, who took over from Ronald Koeman in September and became the first Netherlands manager not to win any of his first four matches. “We do not want to play in front of empty stands but play for fans. Let’s hope that this is the first step and that we can welcome even more people during the European Championship.” Amsterdam is due to host three first-round matches and a last-16 game at the European Championship. Similar studies were carried out at two matches in the Dutch second division last month when about 1,300 spectators were permitted to attend. Fans were divided into six sections, each with differing levels of contact and rules around the prevention of the spread of Covid-19. One supporter from the game in Nijmegen was found to be infected but there were no positives from the match in Almere. “This is a good experiment with which we can show that it is possible that we can soon get people in the stadium again,” said Gijs de Jong, secretary general of the Dutch Football Association, last week. “If [supporters] are negative, they can show that with an app at the stadium and they can enter then in combination with their match ticket. This is a way it could also work with the clubs and the European Championship.” Guardian
