{"id":587476,"date":"2021-03-23T11:02:55","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T15:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=587476"},"modified":"2021-05-06T22:06:36","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T02:06:36","slug":"ben-davies-injury-major-blow-wales-world-cup-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/03\/23\/ben-davies-injury-major-blow-wales-world-cup-qualifiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Davies Injury is Major Blow to Wales World Cup Qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> and Wales defender Ben Davies has withdrawn from international duty due to injury.<\/p>\n

Ben Davies Injury Blow before Wales Belgium Clash<\/h2>\n

Two Welsh Defenders Injured<\/h3>\n

Wales FA made a statement<\/a>: “Ben Davies and Tom Lockyer have both withdrawn from the squad due to injury.”<\/p>\n

Wales will now face Belgium in the Group E World Cup qualifying match without these two centre-backs.<\/p>\n

The defenders will not be available for the upcoming Mexico friendly, nor the other qualifier against the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

Tom Lockyer, Luton Town centre-back, has been recovering from an ankle injury he suffered against Cardiff a month ago.<\/p>\n

Davies is also capable of playing as a centre-back in the back three that Wales use.<\/p>\n

His injury is a particular blow since the 27-year-old has 58 caps and is a good fit on the left-hand side of the defence.<\/p>\n

There are a number of options in the squad already including Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu and Chris Mepham, as well as James Lawrence and Ben Cabango.<\/p>\n

Spurs Suffer Injuries to Two Left-Backs<\/h3>\n

Davies reportedly has not recovered from a knock sustained in Spurs’ 2-0 victory over Aston Villa<\/a>. The Welshman came on to replace Sergio Reguilon in the 57th minute, who had suffered an injury himself.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Spurs, Reguilon took to Instagram<\/a> to say “Everything is fine.”<\/p>\n

As for Davies, it is yet unclear as to whether he will be available for Tottenham’s next match against Newcastle United on the 4th of April.<\/p>\n

Wales caretaker manager Robert Page has reportedly described the injury as ‘significant’, according to Sports Reporter Phil Blanche<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The BBC<\/a> have reported that Davies’ injury is a soft tissue injury.<\/p>\n

Impact on Wales<\/h3>\n

Wales have plenty of other centre-backs to call on, despite Davies (27) and Lockyer (26) being two of the more senior central defenders.<\/p>\n

The rest of Wales’ centre-backs are relatively young, with two 20-year-olds in Ampadu and Cabango, and two 23-year-olds in Rodon and Mepham.<\/p>\n

But Ampadu is the most capped centre-back for Wales this season (7), with Rodon closely following him (6).<\/p>\n

Last time out in the 3-1 Nations League win against Finland, Wales fielded a back-three of Mepham, Rodon and Lawrence.<\/p>\n

Mepham and Rodon were also used against the Republic of Ireland, with Davies and Ampadu involved in the starting line-up.<\/p>\n

Wales can still, therefore, have some stability in Davies’ absence. They still have their more experienced players in Gareth Bale leading the line and Danny Ward between the sticks.<\/p>\n

But Wales face Belgium, ranked number one in FIFA’s world rankings. Their array of attacking talent includes the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Yannick Carrasco<\/span> and Kevin De Bruyne.<\/p>\n

Come tomorrow night, Wales (ranked 18) will be put to the test without Davies, in one of the opening Group E World Cup 2022 qualifiers.<\/p>\n

Czech Republic (42), Estonia (108) and Belarus (88) make up the rest of Group E, providing Wales with a solid opportunity to qualify for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Even snatching a point off Belgium could be massive for The Dragons, who can then surely best the lower-ranked nations in their group.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>