64 years on from their last appearance at the World Cup, Wales will lock horns with the USA on the biggest stage on Monday in their first match in Group B.

Rob Page will see this as a game that his side needs to get something from if they are to advance from the group, but they come up against a USA side who will be confident they have the beatings of them boasting talent such as Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams who is having a great season at Leeds United and Weston McKennie of Juventus.

From an American perspective, the good news is they’ve played a couple sides who take a similar tactical approach to what they might see against Wales in their Group B opener.

The bad news is it hasn’t gone so well.

The best comparison is probably their two matches against a blossoming Canadian side who took their low-block-and-counter style all the way to the top of the CONCACAF qualifying table. The USA took only one point from their two meetings with their northern neighbors, one reason the Americans didn’t secure their spot in Qatar officially until their final match against Costa Rica.

Despite this, the USA have the youngest squad in the group and the second youngest squad in the tournament with an average age of 25.1 years old. Wales will be full of confidence going into the tournament after their historic play-off wins against Austria and Ukraine despite their last results in the Nations League which they feel the score lines didn’t reflect their performances against some good teams in Belgium, The Netherlands and Poland.

Wales are certainly more talented than Costa Rica and at least even in quality with Canada. But they might lack the Canadians’ athleticism up front and on the flanks.

Even so, their willingness to make opponents work could be tricky for an American group that, despite manager Gregg Berhalter’s intentions to be a better side in possession, have often performed best when they can be the ones on the counter.

The key from the U.S. perspective will be how much danger they can create from the wings and in an attacking midfield.

In particular, Dortmund midfielder Gio Reyna could provide an incisiveness the USA have lacked at times. The 20-year-old has looked dangerous when he wears a USMNT jersey, but it happened only four times in qualifying while he battled persistent leg injuries.