Wales vs Kazakhstan Preview

Wales will be looking to start their World Cup qualifying campaign well when they welcome Kazakhstan to the Cardiff City Stadium this Saturday.

Having secured promotion in the Nations League courtesy of an unbeaten start to his Wales tenure (W3, D3), Craig Bellamy is now looking to become just the third man to lead them to the World Cup. His predecessor, Rob Page, helped Wales reach the finals of the 2022 edition, but a poor showing in Qatar (D1, L2) has only increased the appetite among the Red Wall.

The Dragons, who will likely be battling Belgium for top spot in this group, must first see off a relatively easier Kazakhstan side to prove their credentials as one of the two sides that will possibly qualify from this group.

However, ahead of this game, Bellamy will be without three key players: Ethan Ampadu, Harry Wilson and captain Aaron Ramsey, all of whom are injured. Still, confidence should remain high ahead of this first-ever H2H clash, as Wales sit a whopping 81 places above their opponents in the world rankings and are unbeaten inside 90 minutes on home turf since June 2023 (W5, D4).

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan visit the Welsh capital on the back of a miserable Nations League campaign in which they failed to score a single goal (D1, L5) and were relegated to League C. That hardly serves as ideal preparation as they aim to make a first-ever major tournament appearance.

But any hopes of them qualifying is diminished by their qualifier record. The Hawks’ record in World Cup qualification makes for grim reading, with their last such win coming back in September 2013 (D7, L14). That sole victory came against lowly Faroe Islands, with things getting even worse on the road, where Andorra are the only team they have beaten in qualifying for the World Cup (D4, L20).

Kazakhstan’s last win of any sort as the designated away side came in October 2023 and has since been followed by eight successive losses, while they have also now gone 11 matches without a win at any venue since beating Turkmenistan in March last year (D1, L10).