Captain Gareth Bale has urged school teachers to let their pupils watch the Wales Iran match today despite it clashing with class hours.
At 10am GMT (1pm in Qatar) Wales will play their second game of the World Cup against Iran, after a 1-1 draw with the USA.
It’s a pivotal round in Group B which sees England currently at the top who beat Iran 6-2 in their opening fixture.
Bale said: “Being a 10am kick-off in Wales, if I was one of the teachers I’d let them watch the game.
“I hope they do. It’s a historical moment in Wales. For us to be in a World Cup it’s a mini history lesson.”
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There’s been a bit of an inquest into Iran following that defeat, but Bale is expecting them to come firing out of the blocks.
“We would love to score more goals but football games aren’t so easy,” he added. “We will not think because England won 6-2 it will be a walkover. We will not be sucked into that.”
His thoughts were echoed by manager Rob Page, who said: “Iran are going to want to have a reaction.
“They were up against a very good English team. Look at the subs they [England] bought on, they would get in most other teams.”
Wales are boosted by the return of midfielder Joe Allen, who is on the subs bench today after missing the USA game because of a hamstring injury.
Bale said: “Joe’s a massive player for us and probably doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. He’s a vital cog in the way we play.
“To have him available for selection is a massive boost for us. He’s going to do what Joe Allen does best and cover every blade of grass on the football pitch.”
Page has decided to make one change to his starting lineup with striker Kieffer Moore coming in for Dan James, after the Bournemouth striker made a big impact when he came on in the last game.
For Iran, meanwhile, they have gone for a change of goalkeeper as Hossein Hosseini comes in for Alireza Beiranvand who got concussed in the England match.
The temperature in Doha is currently at 29C which is something Wales had to take into account during their pre-match training.
Page said: “It is going to be a factor – it is going to be the hottest part of the day. When we first got here it was 31C.
“We tweaked it that we trained at 16:00 (local time) rather than 13:00. But this week we’ve had to get used to the heat.”
Wales starting XI: Hennessey; Mepham, Rodon, Davies; Roberts, Ramsey, Ampadu, Wilson, N Williams; Bale, Moore
Wales substitutes: Gunter, Allen, Johnson, Ward, Morrell, Lockyer, J Williams, Harris, James, Davies, Thomas, Levitt, Cabango, Colwill, Smith
Iran starting XI: H Hosseini; Rezaeian, Pouraliganji, Hosseini, Mohammadi; Gholizadeh, Noorollahi, Ezatolahi, Hajisafi; Azmoun, Taremi
Iran substitutes: Beyranvand, Moharrami, Khalilzadeh, Jahanbakhsh, Ansarifard, Amiri, Niazmand, Kanani, Ghoddos, Cheshmi, Torabi, Karimi, Abedzadeh, Jalali
