Gareth Bale will be deprived of golf during the World Cup

Gareth Bale will not be able to practice golf, his passion, in his spare time during the World Cup. The hypothesis was however studied by the manager of the selection before being quickly swept away.

This time, golf will come after football for Gareth Bale. A great fan of 18-hole courses, the player sometimes takes advantage of his free time during gatherings with the selection to satisfy his passion. He will not have the opportunity in Qatar, as confirmed by Robert Page, Welsh coach who will announce the list of players selected this Wednesday evening.

« We won’t have time for anything else »

« At previous rallies, Gareth Bale, Kieffer Moore or Aaron Ramsey came to see me and asked me about the training plan, he explained in the Welsh press. If there is no practice or team meeting, they are allowed to go and play golf if they wish. But the next World Cup 2022 will be different. By participating in this tournament, we don’t have time for anything else. We « We have to play a game every four days. No one will be allowed to play golf during the tournament. We are going to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup as a representative of the whole country and we will have to focus on doing our best. « 

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The manager, however, said he had tested the waters ahead of the competition. « We had planned a game of golf, he confided. I went to the Doha club, it is run by a Briton. He said: ‘I will reserve a slot for you’. But it is dark at four hours. We looked, but there are other functions we might have to do, so we probably won’t get a chance to do it. »

Wales will kick off the World Cup – their first since 1958 – against the United States on November 21 before facing Iran and then England. Even though he’s not ‘100 per cent’ after winning the MLS title with the Los Angeles Galaxy, Bale will enter this historic moment fully focused on the pitch. The former Real Madrid player was widely criticized in Spain for his time on the greens. He had angered fans and the club after appearing all smiles with a banner « Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order » in November 2020 after qualifying for Euro 2020.