Chris Mepham says Wales are a “wounded animal” who will throw the handbrake off against England in a bid to keep their World Cup dream alive.
Wales sit bottom of Group B with just one point heading into the final round of fixtures, following Friday’s dramatic late defeat by Iran.
It means that Rob Page’s side must beat England on Tuesday to have any chance of avoiding a group stage exit from their first World Cup in 64 years. To reach the last-16, Wales must either win and hope the other game, between Iran and the USA, ends in a draw, or else beat England by four clear goals.
“Handbrake off now, we need to go for it,” defender Mepham said. “We’ve nothing to lose and sometimes that’s quite dangerous for other teams, when you’ve nothing to lose, a wounded animal. We have to take the handbrake off and go for it against England.
“If there’s ever a game the group will be motivated for, it’d be that one. We’ve shown in the past against quality teams, we can match them. We need to dig deep against England, they’re a top side.”
After drawing 1-1 in their opening game against the USA, Wales appeared to be in a strong position in the group heading into their second match against an Iran side who had been battered 6-2 by England on Monday.
However, Page’s men delivered a flat performance in a game billed as must-win and though both Iranian goals came in stoppage time, Carlos Queiroz’s side were full value for the three points, having already hit the woodwork twice and seen a goal disallowed by VAR.
Wales’ players sank to their knees at full-time and now face a tough task to raise themselves for a third game in nine days, though they will be buoyed by England’s muddling display in last night’s goalless draw with the US.
“It is obviously very difficult, you plan to try and win this game and get a good mood in camp to give you momentum going into the last game but it is a different task now to try and pick the team up and go again,” Mepham added. “But 100 per cent when the game comes around we will be in a good place and ready to give it our all and fight for everything.”
Wales finished the game with 10 men after goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was sent off late on with the scores still level for a crazy high challenge on Iran forward Mehdi Taremi.
The Nottingham Forest goalkeeper, who will now be suspended for the England clash, was initially shown only a yellow card but referee Mario Escobar unsurprisingly upgraded to red after a second viewing.
“To be honest, if the boot was on the other foot I think we’d be screaming at the ref demanding a red card,” Mepham admitted. “It was probably one Wayne did have to make, we looked in a vulnerable position at that moment.
“To be honest, I think Iran always carried that threat. We always looked a little vulnerable on the turnover, gaps were quite big, I don’t know why. But to be honest a draw wouldn’t have been perfect for us. If we’d held on it would’ve been okay but I think we would’ve wanted three points.”
