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Wales secured a narrow 1-0 success against less-fancied opponents Liechtenstein to keep alive their aspirations of World Cup progress.

The young midfielder scored his debut international strike for Wales from near the goal after Liechtenstein’s mix of professionals, amateurs and students had resisted for more than 60 minutes. The scorer wheeled away in joy with his visible excitement mirrored by the 3,000 Welsh supporters occupying three sides of the stadium in the capital.

Soon afterwards, however, Jordan James was shown a yellow card and another yellow for Ethan Ampadu resulted in the two players are suspended for Tuesday’s crunch tie with their next opponents through suspension.

That Cardiff City Stadium contest is a clash Wales have to secure victory in to leapfrog North Macedonia and secure a improved seeding in the qualifying playoffs in next spring.

Craig Bellamy had an unfamiliar vantage point from the stands, the Wales manager completing a touchline ban after being shown a further caution in the qualifiers last month.

The manager's assistant Piet Cremers stood in in the technical area and multiple first-teamers – Jordan James, Ampadu, Rodon, Neco Williams – were at risk of suspension from sitting out the last group game. Two of them received cautions in situations that might hamper Wales.

The home side, situated near the bottom in world football, had failed to score in their six qualifying defeats and let in 23 goals at an rate of almost four per match.

Wales as expected had most of the play as their hosts adopted a deep defensive line and got bodies behind the ball.

Liechtenstein's net remained unthreatened until Nathan Broadhead chasing down forced an error and Jordan James saw his attempt from the penalty area parried by Büchel.

A similar move created another chance, Jordan locating Broadhead on this occasion with a well-weighted pass behind the defence.

The attacker's excellent touch evaded Büchel but the attacker failed to finish from a narrow position.

Wales thought they had scored the opener after the first half when James directed a high Sorba Thomas set-piece back into a packed goal area.

The Liechtenstein keeper was under pressure by Lawlor and Joe Rodon, and his poor clearance reached Nathan Broadhead who drove home emphatically. But Wales' elation were curtailed when the match official was sent to the VAR screen and determined that at least one of the Wales central defenders was in an offside position from James’s header.

Wales raised the tempo after the half-time and Thomas provided a centering pass to the opposite side which James hit the crossbar.

Williams then headed wide from inside the six-yard box as it started to seem like a frustrating evening for Wales.

However, with the match having entered its final half-hour, Williams executed a shrewd through ball for Daniel James to break behind the home defence.

Daniel James beat the goalkeeper with a delightful pass along the six-yard box, and his teammate Jordan James had the simple task of easing Wales' nerves.