England play part in Kazakh history

c'mon Kazakhstan..

Thatsss niceeeeeeeeeee!

2-0 to England

Awh, I kinda like the attitude of Kazakhstan. Seem like nice people

Great, two games i wont be able to watch no matter how boring they'll probably be.

Thanks a lot Setanta

Why so much talk about the flight? Surely they are pros and can handle that. Man U flew to Japan for the club world championships in the middle of the season and even managed to squeeze in a friendly in Saudi-Arabia in February last year. But as that was a club the only talk was about the amount of money they could make, now it is England and suddenly everybody is talking about the flight. Hasn't Beckham proved that you can put in a performance despite having to travel a long way to the games during the last few years?

I'd like to see him give some of the fringe players a chance in these next two matches but keep Rooney and Gerrard on to work on their partnership.

England fan shot because he refused to stop singing.

What the media fail to mention is what our innocent fans were actually singing.

Surely nothing Borat-related?

6-0 England

Kazakhstan, the greates country of them all!
I expect them to beat us... NOT!!

DEVILOFRED-WEDNESDAYS GAMES ON ITV

I Think we should have Borat in goal just to give them a chance England 4-0

good blog phil, but there are some players that haven't played in a FA or Champions league final, gerrard for example, when he plays it will be bout 2 weeks since he's played, so i don't think he'll be so tired, scoring 24 goal already this season, i think he'll be engand's best player for this game, but i also reckon he'll be there best player in south africa in a year's time,i think it'll be 3-0 to england, gerrard scoring a double and setting up one.

2 nil England, but prepare to be bored rigid again! Can`t get excited about internationals these days, to me they just cause problems for the relevant clubs players.
Worse players currently involved with the England set up, Lampard, James and either of the Nevilles.

I agree about Lampard and the Nevilles and sometimes James...
Atleast Phile Neville has finally managed to surpass his brother but thats only down to Gary being injured all the time..

Phil

Sounds like your hosts are very pleasant people. Better than some of the problems leading up to games in certain, erm, less racially tolerant countries England have been to.

Would like you to put the shooting into context though.

Anyway, let's hope the cordial atmosphere doesn't translate to on the pitch. Three points is still the objective, no matter how fanboy the journalists are.

I LIKEEEE YOUUUU

Great blog again Phil, quite intriguing to hear about things from the Kazakh point of view.

I think it's great how it seems that politics (with the regions' more anti-Western countries surrounding it) hasn't affected their views on football, and how the Kazakhs seem to have a great admiration for English football, it's players and their lifestyle.

All the best to Kazakhstan and their people for hosting the game, and let's hope we crush them about 8-0 to get that GD up :)

A goal on each side of the half...

2-0 England

However, If an early goal goes in... 6-0, 7-0

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

C'MAON KAZAKSTAN
REPEAT THE PERFORMANCE OF "NORN IRON"
HEALY HEALY HEALY

Three nil to the Engerland!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Almaty is a beautiful city and the players are likely to be staying at the Hyatt Regency hotel which is a very nice and modern hotel. The mountains and the architecture in the city is very nice to and the people are friendly etc. Drivers are nuts but if you are in a big luxury coach I am sure they won't come to any harm.

There is only a 3 hour time difference to Almaty and even going on scheduled flights not the undoubted luxury private charter it's not an arduous flight - 6 hours from Almaty to Amsterdam with KLM with seat back tv's, good looking stewardesses and free booze - sheer hell!

People are too quick to jump to assumptions about places that end in "stan" and all the usual cliches of "trip to hell" etc are wheeled out. Kazakhstan is a young and developing nation - which although it has a nutty President is very interesting, has every kind of terrain and climate imaginable and is the only place I have been when they need rock to make drilling islands in the Caspian they just blow up a mountainside!

Great place, nice people, reasonable football team - lets just hope they get a great result on Saturday as well.

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"The players will be tired. I know people ask how because they are only playing football, when this is at the highest level, with these lads competing in the Premier League, Champions League final and FA Cup final. This brings mental and physical tiredness."

Time to get the violins out? What a load of nonsense, these guys are professional footballers and should not be tired, especially now that, for some of them, their season has been over for almost two weeks.

They're not doing 35 hours a week plus playing football. I know folk who do and I never hear them complaining about tiredness.

4- 0 to the ENGLANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!

I think if Kazakhstan manage to keep Englands goal tally down, say around 3 or 4, they should consider it a job well done. England will have too much for them, and I don't think Kazakhstan will have any reply in terms of goals. Hopefully it should be a good match, as K'stan can't qualify and England have got the job half done, it should be a good friendly game, one that I'm looking forward to.

Should be an interesting match,

I think we all expect England to win, but as with the game at wembley Kazakhstan should give a good account of themselves

final score 3-1 win for England

stuzzy ur comment will probably be removed, but to say that we are being arrogant by the article saying that Kazachstan are honoured to be playing us is not arrogance. THEY ARE. The Journos from their country said so, they support our teams, love our players, ur scottish, they dont love ur league! Get over it, i couldnt guess why, i mean it is so exciting! They are like a league two team (or lower) who are excited about the team they see on tele, eg united etc. coming to their ground, something they have only dreamed about stop being irrational and anti english.

Can anyone explain why Kazakhstan is part of "Europe" for the world cup qualifiers. I thought it was part of Asia!

I read a lot of people think England will win easily which I really don't think so. Kazakhstan is not as bad as many people think. They played well in England. I know the score was 5-1 but it was just 2-1 until 75 mins when they were notably tired. They probably will not be that tired at home this time.
I still think England will win but will not be more than 2 goals. Not surprise if it is just 2-1 or 1-0.

to add some perspective and realism to this blog

just who are they? what sort of competition do we have when its designed to put the minnows against full time players and teams from othe leagues.

the whole draw is nothing but a joke and serious changes need to be made to the groups because this qualifying rubbish is just that! rubbish and it was a foregone conclusion that england would qualify from such a weak group and turn up in SA to make up the numbers, for they have no hope in hell of winning any major tornament with or without the italian.

england as a real football force in the world are now a joke, not to disimilar from the political parties.

8 - whatever was being sung i don't think it can be justified with being shot..

31 - Kazakhstan's UEFA affiliation is a result of its history as part of the USSR

it won't be a good game i'm sure, these matches rarely are, hopefully the Kazakhs can give a good account of themselves though. I'd go for 3-1 or 4-1 to england.

good luck to england! hopfully 1 british country can continually get to the finals of these major tournaments (barring the last one)

A very interesting article about my country. But, the most disappointing thing about it is the arrogance of Mr Taylor.
I am sure that tomorrow our lads will give their everything and maybe even more. It will not be a friendly game for us at all. Do you really believe that our players will give in in front of their own crowd?
Hopefully, we will snatch a point, like we did against the arrogant Belgians.

PS. Jaujen, its a shame that I have to give you a geography lesson. The border between Europe and Asia lays on Ural River, therefore the part which located in Europe quite large. I tell you more, this part is bigger than some European countries such as Austria etc..

bonfirelight - that might be part of the reason why they are in UEFA, but they started out in the Asian Football Confederation after the USSR dissolved as a result of the voting in the Kazakh Football Federation. The same body then decided to apply to UEFA in 2002. i've not seen any other more in depth explanation. Though i am sure someone out there knows the truth!

England have a miserable history since '66. They should not be seeded and
consequently should not be in the top 20 until they can prove themselves
to be somewhat of a consistent team. Kazakhstan have nothing to lose with this one.

33 - just like it was a foregone conclusion that we'd qualify for Euro 2008?? Someone needs a beer...

Ill go 4-1 England

Footballing Associations don't strictly follow the same patterns as Geographical boundaries. Better example - Israel. Last I checked, that isn't in Europe but they play under the UEFA umbrella.

Doesn't really matter does it?

Rangersfan72 - I think N. Ireland may qualify this time around, Czechs seem to have imploded, Slovakia and Poland are the only serious competition left in the group and N Ireland have a very strong chance of qualifying for once.

I Liiiiiiiiiiiiiike

maybe we could play borat in goal we have have bruno on the right already

Post 30 - not being arrogant??? They are a league 2 team or worse? Your comment is based on what exactly ill-informed arrogant view that unless it's the Premiership or the English Bin Leagues it must be rubbish.

As for the comment about why do they bother with the qualifiers? I am quite sure Latvia would argue that they are worthwhile - perennial whipping boys who then qualified for Euro 2004.

Kazakhstan is the 3rd largest country in the world by landmass I believe with a very large definitely European (Ethnic) population. If you are questioning why they are there the question is why not? As someone said much of the country (a massive land area) is in Europe, far more than somewhere like Turkey for example.

English media need to take their head out the cliche pot (e.g. African goalies are unpredictable, Southern Europeans are divers and Northern Europeans disciplined) and start actually earning a crust by doing some work. I hope England qualify for the next world cup as the look on Lineker and "Irishman" Lawrenson's face when you get stuffed by Portugal/Germans or whoever is hilarious. Almost as funny as the lies they spin when you scrape wins over the likes of Ecuador and T&T.

"I'd like to see him give some of the fringe players a chance in these next two matches but keep Rooney and Gerrard on to work on their partnership."

Dangerous game to play even though a B side should still win. There's been plenty of times England have played supposedly inferior sides with no chance and they have got a result off us.

Win the 2 games we need to win, secure qualification and then try some new guys/things out.

Post 38. "England have a miserable history since '66. They should not be seeded and consequently should not be in the top 20 until they can prove themselves to be somewhat of a consistent team."

Visualhonestpete, I think you'll find that England's recent results place them at No. 6 in the FIFA World Rankings despite not qualifying for Euro 2008 and No. 4 in the ELO rankings so we must be doing something right.

Tough qualifying games are always away at the end of a long season with a difficult technical team (and its porous defence). England by the odd goal. Take the 3 points, same again against Andorra. Cappello is a winner. I don't care as long as we win, qualify for WC 2010 then quitely prepare during next season. Experiment with players after qualification, so we have 30 strong squad players from which 22 travel to South Africa. I'm sick of 66 nostalgia stories - I watched the final then on TV and now want to taste again England winning the World Cup.

I' for one, am glad that England are FINALLY playing a game that means something! every time I see the phrase 'international friendly' on a television listings page I always look what else is on... 2-0 to England but forsee a good and entertaining game

The shooting can be put into context quite easily, MrBlueBurns.

It took place in the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek. Therefore the shooting happened in a different country and probably has nothing to do with the Kazakhs!

As for why it happened, I'm not so sure.

Breaking News - Sky Sports Football Live Exclusive News every 20 minutes - Kaka may be moving to Madrid....or not.

Phil, thanks for warm article!

Hi everybody from Almaty. Im Kazakh. For me just interesting to read what do people say ahead of this game in Britain.

Everyone here in Almaty lives with this game. There is simply huge demand for tickets while our stadium capacity limited to 27 thousand only. However, local authorities said big-screen live watch will be organized in every large city of Kazakhstan (at least at two squares in Almaty). One local TV commentator said whole 15 million population of KZ will switch attention to the game on 6 June@21.00. And Im sure of that! It just absolute madness here ahead of this game which really inspire. As none of the KZ teams would reach Champions League group stages (within next 20 years IMHO) or qualify for Euro/ WC these qualifying games are the only way to watch local footballers struggle with world stars. And England is at the top of the list since our acceptance to Europe in 2002.
I agree we have no chances, but miracles sometimes happen :) The home games of which we can proud were 2-1 win over Serbia and 2-2 (after 0-2 half-time defeat) against Belgium in 2007. Individually our footballers are absolute rubbish, but for spirit and desire to prove themselves (especially against top team) I should give them a credit. And of course supporters. The fans of course not so organized like e.g. at Old Trafford or Anfield, but after the match Serbians Nemanja Vidic described atmosphere at the stadium as totally stunning, twice crazier than in Turkey.
English team landed on Wednesday night and yesterday had a light training session. It was funny to watch in TV news how local kids tried to get signed their cards by Beckham, Terry, Lampard or make a photos. Sad to say, but our stupid police blocked-off the training ground far far way from the entrance so only few agile kids could touch the stars. One 12 years old boy excitedly shook in front of the camera with his white Englands jersey. He somehow managed to get to the training ground or entrance and sign his T-shirt by almost every English player arrived here. Thats call simple respect to English players!
My prediction 3-0 or 4-1 to England.
But still hope for a draw, draw which equals to victory, draw which allows KZ go for a long celebration party holidays. God bless KZ :)

Firstly; My wife.....? She is dead. She died in a field. It was an accident. But it doesn't matter, I have new wife now.

I digress! Lets hope England win. I don't really care if we play badly as long as we win.

Would love to go to Kazakhstan as I've heard lots of good things about it and the people. I thinks it's great that they are welcoming the team and our media to give them more exposure to the world.

Waa Waa Wee Waa!!

England fans have been going on about 66 for far too long now - For flip's sake - you were the home team & the only reason West Germany didn't leave with the trophy is because of an outrageous (arguably the worst ever & none of these famous refereeing errors this season comes close) 'decision' from the referee & linesman of the day. Has it been your 'respect' for officials that has led you to conveniently ignore this fact ?
PS the 70 England team in Mexico were far superior.

Sporting Learnings of Kazakhstan make Benefit (Past) Glorious Nation of England.

Jak sie masz?!

My sister (no. 4 in Kazakhstan) would like to meet Mr Cashley (no. 3 in England)

#50 - thank you for that comment, it's great to hear the views from a football-loving local, wherever the home nations travel.

Phil hits it on the head - Kazakhstan is a resource-rich, confident young country which seems to be bucking the global trend and has a lot to offer their guests. Borat was a bit offensive but I'm sure our Kazakh chums have seen the funny side. "Look at that stupid man, pretending to be one of us," etc. etc.

As for the football, I watched the reverse fixture on the telly and again #50 nails it. Kazakhstan's squad is mostly comprised of young, energetic players who will give it one hell of a go, but lack the technical skill (and the 90-minute fitness levels) to seriously threaten a "top-level" team such as England. If England play a decent game they should win by 2 or 3, but naturally I wouldn't count out a surprise home win either. It would be funny.

I'm sure the atmosphere in Almaty will be great, and the game an intriguing occasion, but here in sunny Caernarfon, deepest darkest North Wales, finding a pub that will willingly show the game will be quite a task!

Stupid Setanta.

is there a confirmed line up yet?
Capello's not doing the "gerrard on the left and lampard in the middle" combo is he?

@54, more like 'Look at those stupid Americans, believing that he is one of us'. Or, if they have seen the tv show, l'ook at those stupid British people, believing that he is one of us'. The ignorance displayed by the people meeting borat was disgusting, disturbing, and funny at the same time. How anyone could have believed that he was a Kazakhstanian reporter is, well, actually not that shocking given the stupidity of most people.

I think that as nice as the country of Kazakhstan may appear to the English (or others with an interest in this match), the match is the only thing that matters and not the cultural benefits that Kazakhstan has to offer. Although it's one thing to say that the stars of England are idolised by the Kazakhs, it doesn't mean that the feeling is reciprocated as Mr. Zhailin would like it to be - I doubt many people will give Kazakhstan much thought outside the ninety minutes, which may well be unfortunate.

Kazakhstan will play on pure adrenallin for 60 minutes, until they run out of steam. If they get lucky and score, who knows, this is their world cup final. In the 1950 World Cup qualifier, football minnows USA beat mighty England 1-0, despite only getting one shot on goal and defending for the other 89 miutes.
Travelling to Almaty and time differences will only be a factor if England lose.

Firstly, finally i managed to make an account ( my old email adress wouldn't let the confirmation email even come through to my junk mail )

Secondly, glad i cut my part time hours so i can see the game on saturday (although i should be revising A level history, Ha!)

I think a lot of people forget that all football is at the end of the day is 11 men against 11 men, yes millions in professional training and pampering do slice the odds some what, but i think the attitude that a lot of us have ( this will be a boring but comfortable win ) is half the reason england haven't gone that extra mile in recent years

As for having no success, i think several quarter finals and a semi, (in my 18 years following england, yes my dad had me watching gazza before i could walk let alone kick) is taken for granted some what. We have the best league in the world perhaps, and arguably the most loyal and passionate fans, ( based on numbers only) but we've gone a lot further than a lot of fans can dream. In my opinion the mass disappointment is largely due to england teams of the last decade or so being over rated by the media and as a result by the fans too. I'll just be happy if we make it to SA next year after the whole steve mclaren thing !

I'd like to think the Kazakh people realise that we don't think Borat is anything like representative of them, and that the whole joke is about the ignorant of the world, not at them.

The point is that their country isn't that well known really, as it is part of the old USSR... but most realise that it is as modern as most countries!

Jaujeno wrote:
Can anyone explain why Kazakhstan is part of "Europe" for the world cup qualifiers. I thought it was part of Asia!

Actually part of KZ is in Europe. The Ural river marks the boundary between Eur and Asia - and it runs through western KZ. The KZ FA cleverly placed their HQ on the Eur side of the river in the town of Atyrau. They are desperate to increase the competitiveness of their football and so want to be in the Euro based qualification groups...

The above seems to be written entirely from the perspective of what happened in the press conference.

I've been here since Wednesday and have found the locals to be a pretty unfriendly bunch.

And as for the city itself, think Cumbernauld and you won't be far off. Also, having watched some Kazakh television, have yet to see anything which comes close to the merits of Borat.

"For Capello, it is a question of acclimatising for this lengthy, but relatively brief, trip to a country...."

Errr, yes! "Lengthy, but brief". Journalist Phil McNulty introduces the oxymoron into his report. Perhaps he could include phrases such as 'fast but slow' and 'low but high' in his next report, just to keep us all amused. Thanks Phil!

I have worked in Almaty and other cities and indeed villages in Kazakhstan and the comments of ModestMouse are greatly disingenuous. The local people are most friendly and there is a great tolerance to visitors.
The city is very beautiful particularly with the snowcapped mountains overlooking the north of the city.
Hotels are of a good standard or above and there is a good selection of restaurants and quasi Irish and English pubs.
As for safety it is a city in which I have never felt at risk.
The statement in an earlier post regarding the police blocking access to the players purely reflects the over zealousness displayed from inexperience.
I urge the England supporters to behave, enjoy and bathe in the acceptance of the Kazak people for the beautiful game of football, which they will enjoy irrespective of who wins. They will be there for the football.
I myself look forward to relocation there next month and hearing about the game and the honest endeavours of both teams and sets of supporters.
As a Pompey supporter who is looking forward with great expectations of next season, I trust Johnson and Crouch make me proud.

England must concentrate on the job in hand and remain professional and keep their shape. Kazakhstan, like many minnows in the World of Football will get men behind the ball and make it difficult to play and the home crowd will be patriotic. I expect England to win but not a landslide.

https://jonnyontheball.blogspot.com/

0-0

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

How can players say they are tired, these are world class atheletes, they are young men at the absolute peak of physical excellence.

If I was a footballer, playing the game I love, and getting paid for it, I would play morning, noon and night, whenever, wherever.

Most normal folk have much more tiring jobs and receive a tiny percentage in wages of footballers. Tiredness is not an issue.

They're not doing 35 hours a week plus playing football.

-------------

They are spending 6 hours a day training, it's not like they jut roll up on a Saturday for a match.

Even if they did they probably exert more effort and burn more calries in 90 minutes than you and I do in a 36 hour working week.

The comment by chesterbigpat is interesting saying Kazakhstan are in the European section of FIFA to increase the competitiveness of their football.

I can understand his/her comment but surely playing in an Asian group where they have less chance of getting spanked every qualifier would be better than at present. Better to have the experience if winning a few games than demoralising defeat after defeat

I suspect your man who got shot was spilling out the usual irrelevant bile that follows the English around...Singing things like 'No Surrender' to bemused foriegners 1,2 and 3000 miles away as per usual meets with someone finally reacting.

England have qualified barring an unbelievable collapse, SA is in for a treat.

Firstly I know this is a BBC site but for all of you out there whining about it being on Setanta- 12.99 a month- bet you all spend more than that going to the pub watching it!

And I'm English but I hope the Kazakhs get a point, just to see the reaction we get from muppets like Graham Taylor and his cliche-toting buddies!
Also whoever said Israel's not in Europe- true but UEFA and Eurovision say they are lol

why the critism of setanta. they paid the money. if anyone should be criticised it should be the organisation which sold them the rights to the matches. they didn't have to.

Modest Mouse, clearly you're walking around with your eyes closed!

I was in Almaty last summer and it is a great city. Yeah there are remnants of it's soviet past but that's it's history and no bad thing. Cumbernauld is over-egging it slightly! Nature flows into the city from the mountainsides to make it a very green city indeed. It's not tamed but that's a great quality.

There are fantastic statues all around the city too and the Cathederal is like a mini St. Basil's of Moscow.

If you have a bit of time I recommend going to big Almaty Lake. It'll take you half a day to go there and come back.

The people I met (mostly in their 20's) were very keen to talk about football, I met Liverpool and Man U fans and they knew about lower league teams and clearly appreciated the game.

I'm supporting England but i'll be watching in London with a Kazakh friend

ENGLAND!

I find it very hard these days to get excited about an england international. The thought of some of the premiers leagues elite on the same team makes me shudder. How can these players hate eachother and eachothers clubs all season and then be expected not only to play together but to form solid partnerships with one another. It doesnt work in my eyes and thats why in lifetime (I am only 25) england will not win a trophy. Even as a huge football fan i couldnt care less. I find it increasingly difficult to cheer for players i have spent a whole season wanting to lose games. For once lets all be honest, James, Neville, Lescott, Lampard, David Nuggent and Co will never win a world cup - FACT!

why is it all utd fans do is complain. even when we're talking england. first negative comment on here....utd fan. you guys have it too easy. glory hunters

Let's be honest, everyone knows it's going to be really boring. Kazakhstan are just there for the attention, while England only have to turn up to win. Plus it will be made worse by idiotic pundits and TV commentators harping on about what an great game it is and referring to Borat every 2 minutes.

63. At 07:28am on 05 Jun 2009, ModestMouse wrote:
I've been here since Wednesday and have found the locals to be a pretty unfriendly bunch.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Maybe its coz of your awful british accent, no offence u know, but its' completely true...

After the last England game on Setanta the bbc published an article with quotes from Gordon Brown saying he wants to get football back on the free channels aswell other sports.. absolutely nothing has been done. Like when the ashes was on channel 4 it was amazing so sky jumped on the bandwagon and now thats wrecked too.. such a shame.

Kazakhstan is not in Europe. End of story, the Capital is closer to Beijing and Tashkent than any other European capital. I don't understand why nations like Israel and Kazakhstan don't play in the Asian WCQ groups. I've nothing against these two countries, but it is unfair that all the European teams have to trek half way across Asia to play a game of football. And don't give me any of that diplomacy bull about "supporting a young nation's psyche". They're not in Europe, they don't speak a European language, they are culturally and genetically more Mongolian and Turkic than European. Why let them play in Europe?

This similarly applies to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. If you go by geographical logic, you would have to allow Iran to play in Europe as well.

The logic of former USSR nations being eligible is also flawed: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kirgistan all play in the Asian tournaments. We'll have Afghanistan applying next. That would be fun now, wouldn't it?

Re 10:22am on 05 Jun 2009, bluetrimmtrab

From the KZ perspective they have a few issues in mind. 1st there is precedent of teams getting better over time against top opposition - Turkey being the best example in football of a country that could compete Asia or Europe. In rugby, Italy is the example I guess.
2nd their players could be picked up by interested european sides & have them playing decent quality football.
3rd KZ gets higher general profile playing in Euro zone & probably more money from home / away fixtures.

Personally, if I was a player I would agree with you - getting spanked every game is no fun. But I guess they are taking a longer term perspective.

Bluetrimmtrab: Professional footballers are top athletes and as such they have to put in a lot more work than just 6 hours training each weekday. Looking beyond your little box, think about how they have to adapt their lives to remain in top notch first class physical form (except maybe the portly Mr Lampard). Then on top of all that there is the pressure to perform and maintain that level of performance. Its not so easy to be earning top dollar and most of them are in that position on merit. Good luck to `em I say. I wish it was me.

In actual fact, in order to avoid playing pointless fixtures against the likes of San Marino, Andorra, Malta and Kazakstan, there should be pre-qualifiers for these teams (similar to the CL and UEFA Cup preliminaries). I know the PC Brigade with bits in their hair are going to slate this post for being eurocentric, arrogant and condescending. But let's be honest, no-one wants to watch these fixtures anyway. Secondly, it would actually provide these nations with more football than they are currently getting. I suggest the lowest ranking 32 teams in Europe (including the likes of Austria, Wales, Northern Ireland and Serbia...) play in preliminary qualifiers.

hackerjack@70 - 6 hours' training a day, are you having a laugh? Three hours more like, they're gone by lunchtime

I think the media and fans are over rating the England team again. Capello has dont a wonderful job no doubt, but this is still a team that can't and won't beat the bigger teams. Still a team that scrapes past the so called 'minnows'.

Englands main strength is defence and midfield. We don't have a world class keeper and the only world class striker is Rooney who isn't really a goalscorer. Kazakhstan are a team on the up, while England have been on the down since the 90s. The quality in the 90s was far superior than what we have today. Lets just look at the strikers of the 90s, alan shearer, michael owen, andy cole, teddy sheringham, and those that didn't even get selected like matt le tissier. Now look at the ones we have now, Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch, Agbonlahor. We need to lose our arrogance and realise were not a threat on the world stage anymore.

as for Kazahkstan, don't underestimate them. Sergey Ostapenko, watch out for him, he has scored 3 goals in this euro qualification campaign. am i correct to say that englands top scorer is wayne rooney on 5? I think that shows that have someone that can atleast compete for goals. Kazahkstan have scored 6 goals all through this campaign and average 1.2 goals a game, so they do have a threat.

When we manage to scrape a 1-0 win, I've no doubt the players will claim that "There are no easy games in international football". If we're not that much better than the opposition, why are our players on £135k a week, while the opposition is made up of postmen and factory workers?

Hello, my English guests.
Speaking about forthcoming game, I will say - one thing only. It will be your fault, not our success, if you fail to get all three points.
Its obvious, your side is much more stronger than ours, still, there is hope. You know, there is saying among us the pitch is square and the ball is round it means football is an unpredictable sport, thats way it is loved by millions.
There are two strong reasons why I prey God to give us at least a draw.
First: I am Kazakh, thus a patriot.
Second: someday, somewhat and somehow we must revenge for that disgusting and stupid Borat.
You ought to know that he has nothing to do with our country. He absolutely knows nothing about our people and culture.
P.S. I hope, finally we are gonna have a cold day in hell after that match.

Post 8. West London Blues, the reports are not accurate. The group in question was having a drink in Bishkek, a chat and a laugh. They were not singing.

Post 72. BigOldHeid, your suspicions (should that be national prejudices) are wrong. Not saying that all England supporters are angels (having travelled away for more than 10 years, I know that's not the case - but I also know that media reports are normally hugely exaggerated), but netiher are all members of the "Tartan Army - the best supporters in the world (TM)". I've heard "No surrender to the BNP" sung more recently by England supporters than "No surrender to the IRA". I suppose we could always ask the shopkeepers of Paris whether they would welcome the "Tartan Army - the best supporters in the world (TM)" back to their city with open arms.

1-1. England play like complete tools.
They say letting David James in goal is like letting a monkey fly a plane...
Yak-shimash!

"Can anyone explain why Kazakhstan is part of "Europe" for the world cup qualifiers. I thought it was part of Asia!"

Same could be said of Israel.

Post 89 -

Unsure of the relevance to the Paris shopkeepers; I presume you travelled there as well. Surely it can't be another case of english fans trying to offset their own appaling reputation my trying to muddy someone elses? Surely not.

National prejudices and experience & observations are different things. But then you have been travelling for ten whole years, so I bow to your insight.

England away fans in 'It Wasn't Our Fault' shocker.

What is this (cheese).
And what is this (cheese)
And what is this (cheese)
.....(ad infenitum)

Do no other England fans find this a little derogatory and somewhat insulting, especially towards Kazakhstan? To consider what are ultimately a bunch of underachievers as royalty when they consistently fail to deliver is laughable in my eyes.

I don't doubt that people will pose for photos, I would if Crouchy strolled into my local boozer, but it wouldn't be a defining moment in my life, just as I doubt it would be a defining moment in a country's history!

Pull ya head out Phil!

No81: Stokerambo

Think you will find the capital of Kazakhstan - Astana not Almaty is 1400miles from Moscow and 2300 from Beijing. It's also closer to Riga, Talinn, Baku, tblisi, Kiev and Helsinki. In addition the ethnic make up of Kazakstan is Kazakhs 46 percent, Russians 34.7 percent, Ukrainians 4.9 percent, Germans 3.1 percent, Uzbeks 2.3 percent, Tartar 1.9 percent, and others 7.1 percent - based on this circa 40%+ of the population is of European or Turkic descent.

Majority of Russia lies to the East of the Urals - should they not be in UEFA either? Look at the example of the Aussies playing in the Asian Federation as they want to develop their football.

As for the person saying shouldn't they play in AFC to avoid spankings - the purpose of playing in UEFA is to develop their domestic game, they are a very very young country and football nation who are improving with every qualifier. With their resources and growing population they will be in a major tournament within 20 years and domestically will have a team in the Champions League groups in the same period.

On the Borat thing most Kazakhs see that the joke was not against them but against the numbskulls in the US and UK who believe he is real. Just as I am sure Austrians, male models and camp blokes see Bruno as a joke against the same group not the character.

Hey, Beep, can you please remind your fans that Khazhazstan is an Asian country and was trounced 5-nil at home, recently, to Belarus. So please,don't make them look good, as your scoops do before your matches.Truth is they won't even trouble your keeper and the score should be about 6 to 8 goals, without reply.

And please don't use the words, legend or quality when your roonies or walcotts score against the Asian minnows.Iran, Korea or even Japan would probably trounced them too.

And this is a good time for the english to play keep ball. Like Barcelona.If they can, that is.

It shouldn't be difficult to grasp why Israel is in UEFA rather that the Asian Federation.

I get sick of hearing that England shouldn't be playing teams like Andora and the likes. They are nations in their own right. Why do the English or anyone else that shows this arogance think they have the right to say, sorry, you're not good enough for our elite club. I bet half of those saying it still think there's an Empire and wish it was still 1945.

I wonder what war and jingoistic songs will be wheeled out for SA by the english commercial radio stations (one in particular) and War-orientated headlines in the Red Tops.

Post 92. BigOldHeid. Try reading instead of jumping to conclusions. Not all England fans are angels. Neither are all members of the "Tartan Army - the best supporters in the world (TM)". Funny how one set of supporters have an "appalling reputation" while another lot are only ever guilty of high jinks, any attempt to claim otherwise being "muddying the waters".

And no, I wasn't in Paris when the "Tartan Army - the best supporters in the world (TM)" were last there. I have, however, discussed at length with my old next door neighbour (who, by pure coincidence, is a Paris shopkeeper) the looting (his word, not mine) undertaken by men in kilts that afternoon.

I worked in Atyrau, KZ for two years and travelled to Almaty a number of times so here is my handle on the country.

As mentioned previously Kazakhstan is partly in Europe partly in Asia, the Ural river is the defining line and this is way over on the Western side of KZ in Atyrau. Perhaps 1/4 is in Europe the rest is in Asia.

Post 43 - The vast majority of people in Kazakhstan are not European they are Asian.

Friendly? Some of the people that I worked with were very friendly and open, but the vast majority of locals did not treat you in a friendly manner (even considering the Soviet emotionless body language) and Atyrau in particular was a very dangerous place with a huge number of attacks on foreigners.

Kazakhs have quite a Gypsy attitude, many choosing to carry their wealth in gold teeth, Blokes wear big watches, Shiny suits, pointy patent shoes and drive land cruisers. The women are always immaculately turned out. One-up-manship is a big part of life in KZ

Almaty was very different on the face of it, in many ways a developing European style city but with a huge emphasis on developing.

Kazakhstan is in a very important time in their history and they are trying to find their own identity and shake off the Soviet tag. But there is still a lot of Soviet style paranoia

The investment in places like Astana and Almaty appears to be a reflection of Dubai, but I found it vulgar when you turn a corner and see the poverty that some Kazakhs are living in.

The time difference in Almaty is + 5 hrs on the UK in Summer so it does make a difference and importantly Kazakhstan will be very hot now, but Almaty should be slightly cooler because of the mountainous region.

Borat was completely misplaced and the anger of the Kazakhs towards the film shows the naivity of the country, they are were embarassed that the world saw them in this way, but didn't look closely enough to realise the joke was on the USA not them. I heard that they thought Borat had been funded by Uzbekistan to discredit them (Paranoia again). Borat was Factually incorrect in many ways, but touching on being so close to the truth in others. I actually saw a guy lean out of a car window and shoot a dog for no reason!

For England fans going (unfortunately I wasn't able to go back for the game) I think they'll be pleasantly surprised with what they see. I'm not sure how fans will be treated, but when given a chance to play host Kazakhs will try their upmost to ensure the guests are entertained.

My tips: Drink the vodka, try the shashlik but avoid the bishbarmak and Cumis!

Finally, the women are stunning and really know how to dress to impress

Post 98 - I love that (TM) joke...It's a cracker.

You're trying to convince me of two things now

1. You can shoplift wearing a kilt. Where would you stash the loot?!

2. You also claim that 'No Surrender to the BNP' is sung by England fans.

Damien you have made my weekend, particularly point 2.

Good luck in the World Cup, sadly I doubt Scotland will be there.

Our absence solves the main security problem though, the police and shopkeepers of SA will be relieved to hear...!