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The Welsh side secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory against less-fancied opponents Liechtenstein to maintain their hopes of World Cup progress.

Jordan James notched his debut international strike for the national team from inside the box after Liechtenstein’s group of full-time players, amateurs and students had held out for over an hour. James ran off in delight with his obvious relief mirrored by the three thousand Welsh fans filling multiple stands of the stadium in Vaduz.

Soon afterwards, yet, Jordan James was booked and a further yellow for his midfield partner means the pair are ruled out for the upcoming crunch tie with their next opponents through suspension.

The Wales' ground match is a game Wales have to secure victory in to leapfrog North Macedonia and secure a better seeding in the final round in next spring.

The Wales manager had an unfamiliar perspective from the stands, the Wales manager serving a sideline suspension after being shown a further caution in the qualifiers last month.

Bellamy’s assistant Cremers assumed duties in the dugout and four of Wales’s starters – Jordan James, Ampadu, Rodon, Williams – were at risk of suspension from missing the final qualifier. Both James and Ampadu received cautions in incidents that might hamper Wales.

The home side, ranked 206 out of 210 teams in international football, had not scored in their six qualifying defeats and allowed 23 times at an average of nearly four per match.

The visitors unsurprisingly dominated possession as their hosts adopted a low defensive block and defended in numbers.

The home goal remained unthreatened until Broadhead chasing down forced an error and James saw his shot from the penalty area saved by the goalkeeper.

That pairing crafted an opportunity, James locating Broadhead this time with a accurate pass into space.

The attacker's excellent touch took him past Büchel but the attacker was unable to score from a difficult angle.

The Welsh team thought they had taken the lead after 26 minutes when Jordan James headed a deep Thomas corner back into a congested six-yard box.

Büchel was harassed by Lawlor and Rodon, and his poor clearance reached Broadhead who finished powerfully. But Wales' elation were cut short when the match official was sent to the VAR screen and determined that a player of the Welsh centre-halves was in an illegal position from Jordan's initial touch.

The visitors increased the pressure after the interval and Sorba Thomas sent in a centering pass to the back post which James hit the woodwork.

Neco Williams then missed with a header from within the six-yard box as it appeared like a difficult match for Wales.

However, with the contest having reached its second half, Williams executed a clever through ball for Daniel James to get in behind the Liechtenstein defenders.

Daniel James beat Büchel with a excellent ball along the six-yard box, and his namesake Jordan James had the easy opportunity of relieving Wales' nerves.