What an occasion it was for Wales to play against the USA in the World Cup.

It was an emotional occasion and I think the boys got caught up in – we all got caught up in it. But it’s a night that we’ll certainly never forget, and the most important thing is, we didn’t lose.

We felt the euphoria of being at a World Cup for the first time in a long time, but I think the occasion got the better of us because we didn’t wake up till half time, did we?

You can give the opposition respect, but we gave them time on the ball and we made plenty of mistakes and we just weren’t on the same wavelength, as a team, for that first 45 minutes.

In the second 45 minutes, we started to look like the real Wales. We did a simple thing and moved up the pitch 10 yards as a team and pushed them into their own half. It’s a brave thing to do because it opens you up to the ball over the top but we had to do it to get back into the game.

What prompted this tactical switch was to bring on Kieffer Moore for Dan James at half time.

It was the right decision and perhaps the way we should have started the game. Kieffer gave us a focal point and gave Bale, Wilson and Ramsey the time to support the attack. He did brilliantly and managed five touches in the USA box in the second half, two shots on target and created one chance, so that tells you that he should be in the team against Iran.

With Bale’s all-important penalty, we managed to hang on in there and get the result we desperately needed. I think everyone would have taken that. But now, it’s not about being happy to be back at the World Cup. It’s about staying there and believing we should be there, so we can move on to the next stage.

At the end of the game we saw Neco Williams in tears, and heard the tragic news about his grandad passing away. For him to be able to put that at the back of his mind and play with the energy he did, I can safely say that his grandad would be looking down on him with immense pride. The whole nation will be proud of his performance.

Looking forward to the Iran game this morning, and we will have done our homework on them after they were beaten 6-2 by England.

Their striker Mehdi Taremi scored both of their goals, and he will be a threat. He he’s scored five Champions League goals for Porto already this season, so he is a prolific goalscorer. We’ll need to keep a close eye on him and his strike partner Azmoun, who has 40-odd goals at international level as well.

Iran need a result from this game so they will have nothing to lose. From Wales’ perspective, Rob Page has to go all out for the win. If we draw or lose this, it’ll be USA and England going through, so this is a must-win for us as well.

We need to follow England’s lead and play four at the back. We’ll need to be wary of their dangerous strikers, but more important than that, we need to stamp our authority on this match from the first minute.

So I would go with a 4-2-3-1 system, with Neco at right-back, Mepham and Rodon in the middle and Ben Davies on the left. Joe Allen has to play this game because there’s no point in him being there otherwise. Let’s take a chance and play him alongside Ethan Ampadu in midfield.

That pushes Aaron Ramsey into that number 10 role where he can really influence the game. I would then put Bale on the right, Brennan Johnson on the left, with big Kieffer leading the line.

We’ve got to be brave, and this is all about being brave.

I feel Wales will have enough, especially if we go with the system that I’ve chosen.

Goal difference will play an important part in deciding who goes through also.

I’m going to go with a 3-0 win for Wales. In the England v USA match, I think the English look confident and I see them walloping the Americans, three, four, maybe even five-nil, which would be great for our goal difference.

Malcolm Allen is a part of S4C’s World Cup team. S4C will show every Wales game during the World Cup, with coverage of Wales v Iran getting underway at 9.15 this morning.