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The Welsh side claimed a narrow 1-0 success over international minnows Liechtenstein to keep alive their chances of World Cup progress.

Wales' James scored his debut international strike for Wales from inside the box after Liechtenstein’s mix of full-time players, office workers and part-timers had defended for the majority of the match. James celebrated in joy with his clear emotion echoed by the three thousand Wales followers occupying three sides of the stadium in Vaduz.

Soon afterwards, however, James was booked and another late caution for Ethan Ampadu means the pair are ruled out for the upcoming crucial match with their next opponents through accumulated bookings.

The Wales' ground match is a encounter Wales need to win to overtake North Macedonia and secure a more favourable draw in the qualifying playoffs in next spring.

Craig Bellamy had an unfamiliar vantage point from the stands, the Wales manager undertaking a touchline ban after picking up a further caution in the competition earlier.

The manager's deputy his assistant assumed duties in the coaching zone and four of Wales’s starters – Jordan James, Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Williams – were at risk of suspension from sitting out the final qualifier. Both James and Ampadu were booked in incidents that could really hurt their team.

Liechtenstein, ranked 206 out of 210 teams in global rankings, had been goalless in their previous six losses and conceded twenty-three times at an rate of around four per game.

The visitors as expected controlled the ball as their hosts lay in a low defensive block and got bodies behind the ball.

The home goal was rarely tested until Nathan Broadhead chasing down won possession and Jordan James saw his effort from the penalty area parried by Benjamin Büchel.

A similar move worked the next opening, James finding his teammate now with a well-weighted pass over the top.

Broadhead’s superb control took him past Büchel but the attacker could not convert from a narrow position.

Wales thought they had broken the deadlock after the first half when James nodded a lofted Sorba Thomas corner back into a crowded six-yard box.

Büchel was flustered by Dylan Lawlor and Rodon, and his poor clearance landed with Broadhead who drove home emphatically. But Welsh joy were halted when the official was instructed to the pitchside monitor and determined that a player of the Wales central defenders was in an offside from James’s initial touch.

The visitors raised the tempo after the break and Sorba Thomas provided a cross to the opposite side which the winger hit the frame of the goal.

Neco Williams then missed with a header from within the six-yard box as it started to seem like one of those nights for the Welsh side.

But, with the contest having reached its final half-hour, Neco Williams delivered a clever assist for Daniel James to run past the opposition backline.

Daniel James beat Büchel with a superb pass along the six-yard box, and his teammate Jordan James had the straightforward job of easing Welsh tension.