Jess Fishlock
Wales' most-capped footballer

It's incredible I didn't know if we were going to get to this day, but here it is.

We are all so incredibly proud to be Welsh and we get to celebrate not only this group of players, but celebrate our nation on the biggest stage there is.

Nathan Blake
Former Wales striker on BBC Radio Wales

It's been a fantastic journey over the last decade or so and I don't think there is a player amongst the squad who doesn't realise what is going on at home, how important it is and what it is doing to inspire the younger generation.

It's just a fantastic occasion, regardless of everything else, it's just beautiful to be here.

Wayne Hennessey knows Gareth Bale as well as anyone, and he says Wales' captain is still striving to improve his game at the age of 33.

Bale makes his World Cup debut tonight at the back end of a glittering career.

Goalkeeper Hennessey - who is preferred to Danny Ward tonight - says the five-time Champions League winner is "in really good shape" despite his recent lack of club football.

"If there is anybody that deserves to play in a World Cup, it's him," Hennessey said.

"We all know what he can do on a big stage.

"He has still got it. He is still improving himself, he always wants to learn and is working hard in the gym, working hard on the grass.

"He is fit, well and healthy and for [all of] us in a Welsh shirt, that's nice to see."

Read more: Wales captain Gareth Bale still striving to improve - Wayne Hennessey

Image source, FAW

BBC Sport Wales goes through the archives of Gareth Bale's career, charting his journey from teenager at Southampton to Wales captain at the World Cup.

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales in Doha

Gareth Bale, Wales' talisman, will lead his team out tonight.

Trawl through the BBC Wales Today archives and you might find a 16-year-old Bale leaving his parents' house in Cardiff and being driven to Southampton for a training session.

Long before making the man bun his signature look, the fresh-faced Bale is sporting an Inbetweeners quiff as he sits in the back of the car, discussing his future in the game with a croaky, adolescent voice which is still some way from breaking.

Seventeen years on - and five Champions League titles, two major international tournaments and a vast array of individual accolades later - Bale is set to become the first man to captain Wales at a World Cup since 1958.

By now, the 33-year-old is a modern great; his country's all-time leading scorer in men's football and a globally recognised figure who has shone on the grandest stages in the club game.

This is the story of how Bale came to this point, delving into five key stages in the evolution of a football icon.

Read more: Saint, Galactico, Welsh hero: The evolution of Wales captain Gareth Bale

Image source, Getty Images

"Be yourself, play with a smile on your face and don't let anything faze you".

They are the words Wales winger Daniel James suggests his late father would have said to him as he prepares for a World Cup debut.

James lost his father Kevan in May 2019, just three weeks before his £15m transfer from Swansea City to Manchester United.

But Kevan did get to see James play for Wales - and score on his debut against Slovakia two months previously.

"I was so glad that he got to see me playing for Wales," James told BBC Sport Wales.

"He didn't get to see me in the Euros and he won't get to see me in the World Cup, but I'm sure he will be looking down and be incredibly proud."

James, one of the first names on the Wales team sheet under Robert Page, says he owes his professional career to his dad, who got him involved in a Welsh youth camp when he was 12.

"He was only able to do that because he emailed the person to say that he was Welsh and that I qualified to play for Wales, otherwise I would not have been in the set-up," James explained.

It was as a result of James' Wales involvement that he was picked up by Swansea's academy, making the move from Hull City when aged 16 in 2014.

"It was hard for my mum and my dad to let me go because they wouldn't see me as much, but I wouldn't be here today without that," James said.

Read more: Wales' Daniel James heads to Qatar inspired by late father

Image source, Getty Images

Wales are back at the World Cup is the first time since 1958, when Jimmy Murphy's side reached the quarter-finals.

Murphy's team initially thought they would not be going to that tournament after finishing second in a qualifying group that also included Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

But political uncertainty handed Wales a second chance because numerous opponents refused to play Israel.

Following a draw of all second-placed teams, and after Belgium also refused, Wales were handed the opportunity to face Israel over two games to decide which team would qualify for the finals in Sweden.

Only two of Wales' 18-man squad which travelled to Sweden in the summer of 1958 - Cliff Jones and Terry Medwin - are still with us.

But from interviews conducted by the BBC over the years, the story of 1958 is able to be told in the words of some of the players who made history 64 years ago.

Read more: Wales' boys of '58 - in their own words

Image source, BBC Sport

So Chris Mepham starts for Wales, with the centre-back admitting he is still "pinching himself" after going from Sunday league football to the World Cup.

The Bournemouth player, 25, began his career with a string of rejections and was overlooked by various clubs, before getting a chance at Brentford and then joining the Cherries.

"Eight, nine years ago I was playing Sunday league." Mepham said.

"Fast-forward to now and suddenly you're part of a World Cup squad."

Read more: Chris Mepham's path from Sunday league to Qatar 2022

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, BBC Sport

The USA have received a fitness boost with key midfielder Weston McKennie of Juventus fit to start after being a doubt.

There are plenty of familiar faces for fans of English football, with Matt Turner, Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream, Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic and Josh Sargent also starting.

Also, if you recognise the name Weah, do not blink twice, Tim is indeed the son of Liberian legend, George.

USA: Turner; Dest, Zimmerman, Robinson, Tim Ream; Adams, Musah, McKennie; Pulisic, Weah, Sargent

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium

Image source, BBC Sport

The Wales team news for their first World Cup game in 64 years is in!

There is no Kieffer Moore up front, which is a surprise, so Harry Wilson starts in midfield.

Midfielder Joe Allen is ruled out with a hamstring injury, so Ethan Ampadu starts in midfield, where Aaron Ramsey is passed fit to start.

Goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey gets the nod over Danny Ward to keep his place, while Gareth Bale, now playing his club football in the USA with Los Angeles FC, captains the team.

Wales: Hennessey; Mepham, Rodon, B Davies; Roberts, Ampadu, Ramsey, Wilson, N Williams; Bale, James.

Back to tonight's game, and United States of America coach Greg Berhalter says people are underestimating Wales.

The USA are fancied by the bookmakers to progress from Group B, but Berhalter says his side will have to match Wales' intensity if they are to start this World Cup with a win.

"We are looking at the game in its entirety and how we can be successful," said Berhalter.

"We want to be aggressive and hurt them, but they have strengths and we want to be able to take them away.

"They [Wales] are underrated. They are an experienced team with international experience. Solid backline, robust players, very physical, talented, difference-makers up top with [Gareth] Bale, [Daniel] James, [Kieffer] Moore. Solid midfield and wing-backs that get forward.

"Overall it is a really solid team. Starting point is matching their intensity and a competitive mindset."

Newly appointed USA captain Tyler Adams, the Leeds United midfielder, says Moore's size and style of play make him a concern.

"He's a big threat, we [Leeds] figured that out playing against Bournemouth this year," said Adams.

"He provides a completely different game plan to any team that you put him into. He's amazing in the air, but he's probably very underrated for his technical ability and finishing around the goal.

"For our centre-backs I've already had a word with them. We talked about it in our scouting meeting, you've got to have a body on him at all times, he's a problem.

"Being physical and trying to win the ball off him. It'll be a tough one but we have to stop him."

Image source, Getty Images

Before their defeat to England this afternoon, Iran declined to sing their national anthem in an apparent expression of support for anti-government protests in their home country.

Some fans shouted and jeered during the anthem and others held up signs reading "Woman, Life, Freedom".

Iran boss Carlos Queiroz had said his players were "free to protest".

There has been a fierce crackdown on protests in Iran sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September.

The 22-year-old Amini was detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict rules around head coverings.

Human rights activists have said more than 400 protesters have been killed and 16,800 others arrested in a crackdown by Iran's security forces.

Iran's leaders say the protests are "riots" orchestrated by the country's foreign enemies.

Read more: Iran players decline to sing national anthem

Earlier today, as I'm sure you're aware, England got off to a flying start in Group B with a 6-2 victory over Iran.

The win puts England in a strong position in a group which also features Wales and the USA, with all four sides ranked in the world's top 20.

Wales face Iran next, on Friday, before taking on England in eight days' time.

You can watch the highlights of England's opening win below.

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales in Doha

Wales are at the World Cup. It bears repeating. Drink it in.

Unless you're old enough to remember 1958, or young enough not to recall a time before 2016, the idea of Wales playing at a World Cup has felt like a fantasy for most of your life.

To be a Welsh football fan is to hope. But for even the most optimistic among them, the sport's greatest competition - and Wales' continued absence from it - has brought with it hefty, often crushing doses of reality.

After a painful 64-year absence from World Cups, Wales are set to make an emotional return tonight.

Read more: Wales savour their moment in time after 64 years away

Image source, FAW

Danny Gabbidon
Former Wales defender

I'm still pinching myself to make sure it is actually happening - but, after a 64-year wait, Wales will be playing at a World Cup today.

This is what I dreamed of as a boy and hoped for as a player but I never thought I would see it in my lifetime, so it is amazing to be in Qatar to watch it.

Along with the Olympics, this is the most-viewed sporting event on the planet and it is amazing to think about the number of people that will see Wales play in this tournament.

Read more: Danny Gabbidon's World Cup column - How Wales can start 'dream' World Cup with a win