Gareth Bale off at half-time vs England – has he played last tournament game for Wales?

Gareth Bale goes off at half-time in Wales' World Cup clash against England in Qatar.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Wales captain Gareth Bale may have played his last tournament game for his country after going off at half-time in the World Cup clash against England on Tuesday.

Bale was not involved much in the opening 45 minutes and was surprisingly replaced by Nottingham Forest's Brennan Johnson at the interval.

With Wales needing a win to have any chance of progressing to the last 16 of the competition, Bale's exit came as a shock and left BBC's commentary team to speculate that he was carrying some sort of injury.

The 33-year-old has struggled with injuries and fitness problems in recent years and there were question marks coming into this tournament over his ability to complete a number of games over a short period of time.

And without their star man on the pitch, Wales conceded twice in quick succession as Marcus Rashford scored from a free-kick and Phil Foden added a second shortly afterwards.

Ahead of this match, Bale insisted in an interview that this would not be his last match for Wales – even if they are eliminated – but it could well be his final appearance in a major tournament for the Dragons.

Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.