Kieffer Moore marks himself out as the man Wales can't do without

Monday night’s draw with the USA was proof that there is one player that Wales simply can’t do without if they are to make the last 16 … and no, it’s not Gareth Bale.

Wales’s record goalscorer took all the plaudits inevitably for the match-levelling penalty against the Americans, a super-cool finish under enormous pressure that further polished the legacy of the greatest Welshman since Owain Glyndwr.

But Bale wasn’t the reason why Wales got out of Dodge with a 1-1 draw under their belt to take into their second must-win crunch tussle with Iran on Friday.

No, the match-defining moment came at the interval when Rob Page brought on ex-Truro City and Dorchester Town frontman Kieffer Moore, a man hewn from old-school centre-forward rock and a player who Wales can ill-afford to be without again.

And Page, credit to him, was the first to admit he’d got it wrong.

Page believed a Bale-Dan James front two was the way to unsettle the US, only for the pair of them to be pretty much marginalised as the Americans ran the midfield, ran the show and looked like running away with a comfortable win.

The Welsh boss held his hands up and a man brought up in the world of League One and Two football as the former boss of first Port Vale, then Northampton, sensed his side had to go a little more direct, a little more Neil Warnock.

On came Moore, all 6ft 5in of him, and the shape of the game changed almost instantly.

Wales pretty much bypassed a midfield where Aaron Ramsey looked like a man short of game-time and targeted Moore, and the impact was obvious for all to see.

Any Bournemouth fan – indeed anyone who ever saw the former lifeguard turn out for Forest Green or Rotherham, for Yeovil or Cardiff – saw Moore take the game by the scruff of the neck, working the line, winning headers, ruffling feathers.

It was classic Kieffer Moore. Five touches in the US box – more than any other Welshman and he was only on the pitch for a half – he may not have had a hand directly in his team’s goal but it was his arrival that changed the game and, with it, changed the mood around the Wales camp.

He certainly won’t be on the bench again when Wales line up against the Iranians at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.

Page’s men are around 11-10 against Iran, a side shellshocked by their 6-2 drubbing by England but arguably more dangerous because of that hiding.

There will be no sitting back from Iran and, as Mehdi Taremi proved, there is quality in their front line. What there also is, however, is a soft centre which Moore should be licking his lips at getting stuck into.

Of more concern to Welsh fans has to be the form of Ramsey, soon-to-be 32 and showing signs of the rust that only a handful of starts for Nice would inevitably yield given how afflicted by injuries he has been.

And also Bale, who has been equally under-cooked this season. He’s irreplaceable, of course he is, but his impact against the US was non-existent in the first-half and only marginally better in the second period.

But let’s not kid ourselves, if Ramsey and Bale are standing they play. Indeed, if Bale is hobbling he still probably plays and let’s face it, having blundered once with team selection Page won’t be doing anything rash or radical again.

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