Wales warmed up for his or her essential Euro 2024 qualifier in Latvia with a goalless stalemate in opposition to South Korea in Cardiff.
Substitute Kieffer Moore went the closest to breaking the impasse by heading Chris Mepham’s second-half cross in opposition to a publish.
However Wales did not safe a morale-boosting victory that under-pressure supervisor Rob Web page craved, and it’s now just one win in 13 video games both aspect of a disappointing World Cup for the Dragons.
Web page had admitted a first-ever assembly with South Korea was a fixture he might have finished with out because it got here 4 days earlier than the important Euros qualifier in Riga.
That remark upset many Wales supporters who had paid for tickets, however many selected to remain away because the Cardiff Metropolis Stadium was lower than half full with the attendance given as 13,668.
The end result in Riga will form the remainder of Wales’ Euro marketing campaign – and presumably even Web page’s future – with Wales operating out of time to make up for June defeats by Armenia and Turkey within the race for automated qualification.
With Euro group rivals enjoying on Friday, Uefa laws stipulated that Wales needed to fulfil this date on the worldwide calendar with a pleasant.
Web page recommended he was not going to dangers together with his workforce choice forward of Latvia and captain Aaron Ramsey sat on the bench for the opening hour.
However Web page fielded a stronger line-up than many anticipated with Brennan Johnson beginning simply days after his £47.5million transfer from Nottingham Forest to Tottenham.
Ipswich’s Nathan Broadhead made his first Wales begin alongside Johnson in assault. Birmingham midfielder Jordan James additionally made his maiden begin in a three-man midfield.
Tottenham captain Son Heung-min was the star flip for South Korea with Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae additionally sprinkling stardust on the guests.
South Korea reached the final 16 on the 2022 World Cup however new boss Jurgen Klinsmann remains to be ready for a victory since his February appointment, with three attracts and two defeats now on his report card.
Wales started brightly and had been unlucky to not take a Thirteenth-minute lead.
Ethan Ampadu and Broadhead mixed to seek out Wilson who, underneath stress from Seol Younger-woo, pressured a wise save from Kim Seung-gyu.
There was a scare for Wales when Ben Davies, skipper for the evening in Ramsey’s absence, was unceremoniously chopped down by Lee Jae-sung.
Kim Min-jae, the 6ft 3in centre-half often called ‘The Monster’ additionally despatched Johnson sprawling to the bottom with a blow to the ribs and was grateful that Scottish referee Willie Collum was in a lenient temper.
South Korea loved almost 60 per cent possession on an evening when the sultry situations noticed cooling breaks taken halfway by means of every half.
However that didn’t translate into hazard across the residence objective till the closing moments of the primary interval.
Lee Ki-je’s good cross simply evaded Hong Hyun-seok on the far earlier than Son pressured Danny Ward to carry his 25-yard try underneath the crossbar.
Wilson had one other effort saved earlier than Wales launched Joe Morrell and Moore – each suspended for the Latvia qualifier – for Ampadu and Johnson at half-time.
The concern for Wales was that Son was beginning to roam and dictate issues, the Spurs striker driving over from 20 yards earlier than Hwang In-beom was equally off track.
However Wales got here inside inches of taking the lead after 66 minutes.
Mepham crossed to Moore who headed in opposition to the publish with Ramsey, who had solely not too long ago joined the motion, unable to show the ball residence.
Broadhead noticed his 20-yard try deflected vast and Joe Rodon rose properly on the ensuing a nook however his hopes of a primary Wales objective had been ended by a full-length Kim save.
Moore headed over with the sport’s ultimate contact, however there have been extra gamers taking place with cramp than possibilities created within the closing minutes as a fairly predictable draw was performed out.