USA v Wales: Back our 18/1 Bet Builder

• Striker Moore has great card record

• Goals stats suggest low-scoring affair

• Shoot for profit with wing-back Williams

  
  

Every man in a Wales shirt who takes to the field on Monday night will be playing his first World Cup game and that should ensure a full-blooded performance.

I'm certainly happy to back them for over 1.5 cards, something that's occurred in 26 of their last 34 competitive games, including all four at last summer's European Championships.

Focusing in on individuals, Kieffer Moore looks a standout to be booked for the Welsh.

The Bournemouth centre forward is all arms and elbows in the aerial challenges - of which he makes plenty - and that's something referees don't tolerate well in international football.

That is emphasised in his record for Wales which shows he's been carded in eight of his 16 international starts. While it's not certain, Moore is widely expected to start up front in this game.

At 10/3 for a card, he looks very much worth backing in our Bet Builder.

Admittedly the referee could have been better with Qatari Abdulrahman Al-Jassim not the strictest official around.

Yet he has shown at least four cards in all his domestic league games so far this season, while he produced seven in his most recent international - a World Cup qualifier between New Zealand and Tahiti back in March.

Moving onto the goals markets, I'm not expecting many here.

It's a bit of a cliché but opening games are often tight - you never want to lose the first match in a four-team group.

But, more importantly, the record of both sides in qualifying suggests goals will be hard to come by.

Only four of USA's 14 qualifiers produced over 2.5 goals, while Wales scored only 14 in their eight group games - the lowest such total of any of the European sides at Qatar 2022. They also conceded just eight.

In addition, all of their group matches at Euro 2020 last year landed the under 2.5 goals bet so that's the route worth taking here.

Finally, in the shots markets, let's put Neco Williams in to complete a four-legged Bet Builder.

He's hit 2+ shots in five of his last eight starts for Wales from a wing-back role which gets him forward pretty regularly; the wide men are very much part of Wales' attacking plan.

Williams has also been catching the eye at Nottingham Forest this season where only Morgan Gibbs-White has hit more shots.

Put the four legs together and you get a price of just over 18/1.

That has the potential to produce a very nice return - and don't forget that Betfair are offering customers a free £2 Bet Builder on each of the first seven days of the World Cup!

World Cup Monday Cheat Sheet: All the best bets in one place!