A Respectful away draw / 82,345 Crowd / But Captain

Mexico 0-0 Wales: Young Welshmen stand firm in front of over 82,000 in California


By Matthew Southcombe

Tuesday 29th May 2018


A young Wales side held World Cup-bound Mexico to a 0-0 draw at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

It was a commendable rearguard action, made all the more impressive having done it without captain Ashley Williams, who was forced off midway through the first half following a challenge with West Ham striker Javier Hernandez.

Wales looked lively in the early exchanges, with Tom Lawrence and Aaron Ramsey pressing the Mexican back four into making sloppy errors.

But it was the Mexicans who looked the more dangerous throughout the first half, with the majority of their threat coming down the right hand side in the form of Jesus Manuel Corona.

The Porto winger dabbed it through the legs of Joe Ledley before forcing the first of a number of saves Wayne Hennessey had to make in the opening 45 minutes.

The Wales goalkeeper was again called into action when Hernandez’s run split the Wales defence as he was targeted by Corona’s diagonal ball – Hennessey reacted well to come off his line and dive to tip the cross behind for a corner.

Then came a blow for Ryan Giggs. Williams got his knee stuck in the floor during an awkward challenge with Hernandez and had the leave with field with what appeared to be a rib injury. He looked in a fair amount of pain as he walked off to be replaced by Tom Lockyer.

Hennessey was then called into action again, this time by Javier Aquino before Harry Wilson cut inside onto his left foot to bend a shot that ended up a whisker wide of Jesus Corona’s far post.

There was then concern shown for Aaron Ramsey, who had to receive treatment minutes after stretching to fire a shot well wide of the target, though he was able to carry on.

As the half came to a close, Davies was called into action to block from Corona and Hector Herrera forced yet another good save from Hennessey but the score was 0-0 at the break.

Wales had all hands on deck midway through the second half as they were forced to withstand significant pressure from Juan Carlos Osorio’s men.

Captain Hector Herrera had two guilt-edged chances to make it 1-0. The first saw Hennessey caught in two minds when it came to racing out to receive a loose ball, though he recovered well to deny the midfielder with his legs.

The second saw the Mexican dither on possession in the Welsh box, allowing Declan John to get back and hoof it clear.

Mexico continued to look the most likely as both managers made a raft of changes but Wales refused to be beaten, with 20-year-old Chris Mepham leading the significant defensive effort.

And the 82,345 packed inside the Rose Bowl were not to be treated to any goals as the game ended 0-0.






Mexico: Corona; Alvarez, Ayala, Alanis, Gallardo; Molina, Herrera, Gutierrez; JM Corona, Aquino, Hernandez.

Subs: Ochoa, Salcedo, Lozano, Damm, J dos Santos, Fabian, Vela, Peralta, Jimenez, G dos Santos.





Wales: Hennessey; Gunter, Mepham, Williams (C), Davies; Ledley, King, Ramsey; Wilson, Lawrence, Vokes.

Subs: Maxwell, Davies, Lockyer, John, Roberts, Richards, Evans, Hedges, Bradshaw, Smith, Brooks, Thomas.




Ashley Williams is forced off after injuring himself in a tackle with Javier Hernandez

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Great crowd - gutted !

Young Mepham is going to be a real star, broke into our first team earlier in the year coming up from our B team, after only 7 games Bournemouth offered 6million for him although thankfully we have him on a 5 year contract so hopefully will get another season before he goes, a very composed player who reads the game brilliantly, keep an eye on him he's going to the very top this kid

Young Mepham is going to be a real star, broke into our first team earlier in the year coming up from our B team, after only 7 games Bournemouth offered 6million for him although thankfully we have him on a 5 year contract so hopefully will get another season before he goes, a very composed player who reads the game brilliantly, keep an eye on him he's going to the very top this kid

I've heard good things but not really seen him play apart from minutes on tv.
Hopefully you are right

Young Mepham is going to be a real star, broke into our first team earlier in the year coming up from our B team, after only 7 games Bournemouth offered 6million for him although thankfully we have him on a 5 year contract so hopefully will get another season before he goes, a very composed player who reads the game brilliantly, keep an eye on him he's going to the very top this kid

Brentford are my favourite London team.... You got some great players there play super football and hope you get top 6 next season. Can't see why not...

Future's looking bright

Future's looking bright

Absolutely is

Must be painful for the Giggs haters

Young Mepham is going to be a real star, broke into our first team earlier in the year coming up from our B team, after only 7 games Bournemouth offered 6million for him although thankfully we have him on a 5 year contract so hopefully will get another season before he goes, a very composed player who reads the game brilliantly, keep an eye on him he's going to the very top this kid

Hope he continues his progress. Good luck next season. I've a lot of time for Brentford - you take points off Fulham and were supportive over the rebrand nightmare. What's not to like?!

Giggs seems to be impressing players and fans alike,Giggs haters have gone very quiet! Let’s all support him and the team in our revenge game against the Republic of Ireland!

Future's looking bright

Young Mepham is going to be a real star, broke into our first team earlier in the year coming up from our B team, after only 7 games Bournemouth offered 6million for him although thankfully we have him on a 5 year contract so hopefully will get another season before he goes, a very composed player who reads the game brilliantly, keep an eye on him he's going to the very top this kid

I was really impressed with Mepham. He had a great game, and looks really composed on the ball for a big guy. If Bournemouth offerd 6 mill for him, I can see some other teams coming in for him if he keep performing like that. We got some good young prospects coming through with the likes of Mepham, Wilson, Woodburn, Brooks, and Ampadu

Thanks for the good comments 're the Bee's, we are slowly getting there although we will always have inexperience working against us, we have to buy young players from the lower leagues with good potential we cannot afford "proven" championship players , we normally have them for 1-2 years, bring them on and then sell them for a decent profit to help pay the bills. We are though slowly being capable of spending a bit more on new players each time this happens so maybe in a season or two will have the right mix of ability and experience to do something, we are getting very close it was only our poor start to the season that stopped us getting in the play offs this time.

We had three years in league 2, then three years in league 1, now had four years in the championship with four top ten finishes, we are slowly getting there and with next season our last full season at GP before the new ground (planning on moving at Xmas 2019) it's coming together.

Enjoy yourselves in the PL and please beat Fulham home and away

Thanks for the good comments 're the Bee's, we are slowly getting there although we will always have inexperience working against us, we have to buy young players from the lower leagues with good potential we cannot afford "proven" championship players , we normally have them for 1-2 years, bring them on and then sell them for a decent profit to help pay the bills. We are though slowly being capable of spending a bit more on new players each time this happens so maybe in a season or two will have the right mix of ability and experience to do something, we are getting very close it was only our poor start to the season that stopped us getting in the play offs this time.

We had three years in league 2, then three years in league 1, now had four years in the championship with four top ten finishes, we are slowly getting there and with next season our last full season at GP before the new ground (planning on moving at Xmas 2019) it's coming together.

Enjoy yourselves in the PL and please beat Fulham home and away

Woods will bring in a decent fee also mate?
Hopefully you can gain promotion this season

Think Woodsy will go this summer, hope not but will be amazed if we can keep him for another year, Villa been linked before, he still lives in Staffs so reckon Villa or maybe WBA, he's a cracking player, also Bentley our keeper, Ollie Watkins up front and a certain Welsh centre back are all likely to move on at some stage

Think Woodsy will go this summer, hope not but will be amazed if we can keep him for another year, Villa been linked before, he still lives in Staffs so reckon Villa or maybe WBA, he's a cracking player, also Bentley our keeper, Ollie Watkins up front and a certain Welsh centre back are all likely to move on at some stage

I'd take Woods 100% I think he's a great player