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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

When do Wales play next and why are there no friendlies before the World Cup?

Wales will not play again before their World Cup campaign starts in November.

Rob Page's men were beaten 1-0 by Poland at Cardiff City Stadium in the Nations League on Sunday night in what is their final fixture before the global showpiece in Qatar.

The Red Dragons tentatively explored the option of having a warm-up fixture prior to their World Cup opener against the United States of America on November 21, although the lack of preparation time between that contest and the beginning of the domestic season break ensured it was not possible to play a friendly game.

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"Potentially we could have had a friendly after the Sunday [November 13] when we meet up, but, for me that's too risky," said Wales boss Page. "We don't want to take a chance on any of the players six or seven days before the opening game.

"It's unusual because normally we'd take them away for a week and we'd do all of our prep in that week and make sure any players who didn't play many minutes at their club were topped up so by the time we go into that tournament, everyone's on an even keel.

"We haven't got that luxury unfortunately, but everyone's in the same boat. We've just got to pray that there's common sense with Covid, the testing, and no injuries so we have a fit group of players turning up on the Sunday when we meet up."

It means Wales have just shy of two months to wait until they return to action. They face the USA in their opening World Cup group stage match on November 21.

Wales then take on Iran four days later before rounding off the group stage of the competition against England on November 29. Should Page's side finish in the top two of Group B, they would play in the last 16 of the tournament on either December 3 or 4.

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