Kazakhstan v Wales live: Visitors cling on for narrow win in far-flung World Cup 2026 qualifier
Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales: Craig Bellamy’s side earn potentially vital win after a close game in Astana
Wales beat Kazakhstan 1-0 in Astana on Thursday to move two points clear at the top of World Cup qualifying group J.
Craig Bellamy’s side dominated the early exchanges, with Sorba Thomas and Harry Wilson impressing as an energetic and composed Wales side imposed themselves on the game.
And their early dominance paid off mid-way into the first half when a great delivery from Wilson was headed on and parried to Kieffer Moore, who opened the scoring with a tap-in from six yards.
The visitors were unable to press home their advantage in the first half and Kazakhstan came out fighting in the second period, with Galymzahn Kenzhebek notably forcing a superb save from Karl Darlow.
Nevertheless, the Wales defence held firm throughout and while they were unable to find the net again, the visitors closed the door and take home the three points after a nervy ending.
Follow our live blog for all the latest team news and action from the clash:
Bellamy: 'It was hard work'
Wales boss Craig Bellamy is last to speak to BBC.
“It was hard work, really hard worK,” he says.
“We knew beforehand, Kazakhstan is a very hard place to come, it has been for British national teams and club sides in recent years. You could see why today.
“It wasn’t as clean as we would have liked, we had to dig in.
“The players have that ability to dig in. But there is more, there is more to come from them - we are a better team than we showed consistently today. How we started was really good but then the rhythm wasn’t quite there.
“I was so impressed with Dylan Lawlor. He was so good.
“We knew it would be hard with the squad withdrawals. Dylan is a big plus from this week… we have gained a player.
“I am not thinking about Belgium yet, we have Canada to play first.
“I want to see a better intensity, lots of the habits that have made us the team we are. But we will take the win,” he adds as he finishes.
Moore: Wales 'massively relieved'
Kieffer Moore tells the BBC that the squad is “massively relieved” to take the win.
“It's safe to say we were on the back foot second half, but to get the three points, we needed that for the team and the campaign.
"I'm extremely proud, to mark this occasion (his 50th cap) with a goal and a win is something I'm proud of.
"I think this sets us up for the Belgium game, we all know what we have to do, and what's the outcome we need,” he adds.
Williams: 'It's a massive three points'
Speaking on BBC, Williams goes on to say that the result is “a massive three points”.
“We were saying during the game, just slow it down, get out of there with the win.
“It just adds to what you are doing. If we qualify, nobody is going to say 'do you remember when we didn't defend very well against Kazakhstan?'. No, it doesn't matter.
“There are things to pick the bones out of, but we have got the three points, now we can move on,” he adds.
Williams: 'One of the worst performances defensively'
Williams says the game was “probably one of the worst performances defensively I have seen under Craig Bellamy”.
“But he will be relieved and he will probably praise the boys' character.
“We have said many times in international football, you expect to go and steamroll a team like Kazakhstan and it doesn't happen.
“But we have the win, it's job done.
“Nobody is going to remember this performance if we qualify,” he adds.
Davies: 'The most important thing was to win'
Wales captain Ben Davies says that "the most important thing was to win the game” today.
“It wasn't our best performance, but these are tough places to come and to walk away with three points is exactly what we wanted.
"If you want to get to a World Cup, you play tough games, and none of them are easy. On paper people will look at Kazakhstan and think we should be dominating the game and scoring a couple of goals but it's never going to be easy.
"Belgium is obviously the biggest game we have going forward, but we came here and put ourselves in a position that it is an important game, as far as I'm concerned, job done tonight,” he adds.
More from Wilson
"Second half they pressed a lot higher, they went man for man at times and we found it difficult,” says Wilson.
"But I think we showed that while we can win games playing well, but we can win games playing ugly as well.
"After the game in Brussels, we showed we can score goals against the best of teams and we know with the Red Wall behind us we're capable of beating anyone so we have to make sure we do that next month."
Wilson: 'A valuable three points'
Speaking to BBC, Harry Wilson calls it a "valuable three points” earned today.
“That was a really tough game. I thought we started pretty well, controlled the game, obviously it was really nice to get the goal early on to settle us in.
"But they showed on more than one occasion that they're a dangerous team. We really had to stick together and it was a bit nervy at the end,” he added.
Next up
Wales’ next two fixtures are both friendlies, due to the nature of scheduling in their five-team qualifying group.
They play Canada in Swansea on Tuesday to end this international break, before facing England at Wembley on 9 October.
But the big one comes against Belgium in Cardiff on 13 October, with that match potentially deciding who finishes top of Group J (and therefore who secures automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup).
FULL-TIME! Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales
“Wales will be disappointed with the overall performance, but you get the three points and get out of there. It's job done”, says former Wales midfielder Joe Ledley on BBC.
“We got the three points and that's the main thing,” adds Ashley Williams.
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