Kazakhstan vs Poland
European Qualifiers – 2018 World Cup
Date: Sunday; 4-September-2016
Kick-off: 23.00 GMT +7
Venue: Astana Arena.
European Qualifiers – 2018 World Cup
Date: Sunday; 4-September-2016
Kick-off: 23.00 GMT +7
Venue: Astana Arena.
Kazakhstan didn’t make the best of preparations for the upcoming
World Cup qualification campaign in midweek as they lost a friendly away
to Kyrgyzstan 2-0. This ended their four match unbeaten streak that had
seen them beat the likes of China, Azerbaijan, and Latvia.
However,
they now face a much tougher test of trying to outdo the likes of
Armenia, Denmark, Montenegro, Poland, and Romania to qualify for Russia
2018. In all honesty it’s incredibly unlikely that they will finish any
higher than 4th, but they will largely be trying to avoid bottom spot.
They finished second from bottom in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign
behind Czech Republic, Iceland, Turkey, and Netherlands and ahead of
Latvia.
They are at least getting one of the toughest matches of
the campaign out of the way first. Poland are a genuine footballing
talent and have a number of established players and a few youngsters
breaking through. The two main ones are top scorer Robert Lewandowski
and new Leicester signing Bartosz Kapustka, the former of whom is one of
the world’s top strikers and the latter a promising teenage winger
making a name for himself on the international stage.
It didn’t go
quite how they wanted in France in the summer though. They narrowly
beat Northern Ireland and Ukraine either side of a goalless draw with
Germany in the group stages. They actually outperformed Germany and were
unlucky not to win the game. Switzerland took them to penalties in the
first knockout stage, but their experience from the spot didn’t help
them as Portugal knocked them out on penalties in the quarter finals of
the competition on their road to the trophy.
Poland have only lost
one of their last 14 matches in normal time though, and they’re facing a
Kazakhstan side who have lost four and drawn two of their last six home
matches. The hosts are big underdogs for this one, and Poland won’t be
happy unless they come away with a comprehensive victory.
I’m
expecting a comfortable win for the visitors. They beat the likes of
Georgia and Gibraltar comprehensively away from home in Euro 2016
qualifying, whilst Kazakhstan have lost by more than a single goal at
home to Czech Republic and Iceland in recent years.
This makes
odds of 1.925 for a Poland -1.0 Asian Handicap Win look very good value
for money, and I’m going for that alongside a 3-0 correct score
prediction at 9/1.
Head To Head
Poland have won all three of their previous meetings with Kazakhstan.
Stats
Kazakhstan have lost 67% of their last six home games and won 0%.
Team News
Kazakhstan
have named a squad consisting entirely of players based in their
nation. Captain and Aktobe midfielder Samat Smakov is the most
experienced player in the squad with 74 international caps to his name,
whilst Tobol Kostanov striker Sergey Khizhnichenko leads the scoring
charts with six goals in 37 appearances.
Captain
and top scorer Robert Lewandowski will be the main threat for
Kazakhstan to deal with, with the striker having 35 international goals
to his name. Teenage winger Bartosz Kapustka retains his place as well,
whilst Brondby striker Kamil Wilczek will be hoping to make his first
international appearance.
