England

Andy Buckley

It was an excellent spectacle for football fans across the world but England supporters will probably be glad to see the back of Euro 2008. With a raft of Premiership stars on show in Austria and Switzerland, both England players and fans spent the summer in the wilderness wondering what might have been, but now they can look forward to the World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign under Fabio Capello in optimistic mood.

England line up in Group 6 with Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra so what can we expect from the other countries? Croatia proved to be England’s Euro 2008 party-poopers, perennial whipping boys Andorra made up the numbers in the same Euro 2008 qualifying group and there’s Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine and Alexander Hleb’s Belarus who will give England a stern test home and away. That leaves Kazakhstan.

For pub quiz goers, Kazakhstan the country, was the last soviet republic to gain independence from the former USSR in 1991, it is the ninth largest country in the world and the largest landlocked country in the world. Cinema goers on the other hand will know that Kazakhstan is the home of ‘Borat’, the crazy, Kazakhstani reporter, played by comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen. In fact, the moustached eccentric made the country famous across the world to the dislike of the Kazakhstani government.

However, Kazakhstan in international football can in all probability be likened to its geography – very remote. Not exactly the Wild West but the national side is ranked 125th in the world and have not qualified for any major international finals since the country gained independence in the early 1990s. More recently, they finished third bottom of their Euro 2008 qualifying group having won only 2 out of their 14 matches including a shock 2-1 win at home to Serbia.

Recent Form

27/05/08 Friendly Away v Montenegro Lost 3-0
23/05/08 Friendly Away v Russia Lost 6-0
26/03/08 Friendly Away v Armenia Lost 1-0
06/02/08 Friendly Away v Moldova Lost 1-0
03/02/08 Friendly Away v Azerbaijan Drew 1-1
20/08/08 WC Qualifier Home v Andorra Won 3-0
06/09/08 WC Qualifier Away v Croatia Lost 3-0
10/09/08 WC Qualifier Home v Ukraine Lost 3-1

The Manager

Dutchman Arno Pijpers joined the Kazakhstani national team as Head Coach in 2005. He previously managed Dutch club sides Excelsior Rotterdam, Olympia Gouda and the Dutch international under-16s. He went into full international management in 2000 when he took the dual role of Head Coach of the Estonian national side and club side Flora Tallinn.

After winning three domestic titles in Estonia and being honoured in the country for his achievements, he returned home briefly in 2005 to take up the post of Director of Football at FC Utrecht before going to Kazakhstan the same year to coach the national side. In 2006, Pijpers took control of club side Astana and won the league title that season whilst still in charge of the national side.

Star Player

The majority of Kazakhstan’s international players play their club football in their home country apart from a few exceptions who play in neighbouring Russia. I am reluctant to use the word ‘star player’ in this context but their ‘prominent’ player is 29-year-old midfielder Ruslan Baltiev who is Kazakhstan’s most capped player with 64 appearances and 10 goals. He made his international debut in 1997 and currently plays for Kazakhstani side FC Tobol in the country’s Premier League. He is the nation’s most influential player having spent several years in the Russian Premier League with clubs including FC Moscow and Dinamo Moscow.

Opinion

According to bet365, Kazakhstan are 500-1 to win their World Cup 2010 qualifying group and they are generous odds in my view. They have not won a competitive match since November 2007 when they beat Armenia away 1-0 in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. It makes you wonder why they bother.

They play their first World Cup qualifier on 20th August at home to tiny Andorra and should pick up maximum points both home and away against the Pyrenean nation. I expect Kazakhstan to be nothing more than an inconvenience for the bigger sides and England, Ukraine and Belarus should beat Pijpers’ side convincingly on home soil.

Just a word of warning though; Kazakhstan are more than capable of making the inhospitable Almaty Central Stadium a fortress especially for a travelling England side as the Eastern European nations will probably adapt better to the set-up in Kazakhstan’s largest city and former capital.

England have never performed well away in Eastern Europe so I wouldn’t be surprised if the game in Almaty on 6th June 2009 proves to be a qualifying ‘banana skin’ for Fabio Capello’s men.