Wales’ struggle to get the round of 16, according to Gareth Bale

After Friday’s 2-0 loss to Iran, Wales captain Gareth Bale said that the World Cup’s knockout rounds “would be impossible” to reach.

The team led by Robert Page only has one point after two games; to advance, they must defeat England.

Wales lost, with goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey receiving a red card, and two goals in stoppage time from Roozbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian secured the outcome.

There is no other way to put it but “it’s devastating,” according to Bale.

It’s difficult when you’re down to 10 men at the World Cup against talented teams, Bale said. But we fought to the very end.

“We must go on and immediately pull ourselves up. It will be challenging right now, but we have to make an effort to defeat England.