Wales dig deep to beat Kazakhstan and top grouppublished at 09:08 British Summer Time
09:08 BST
Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales
Image source, Reuters
Wales had to dig deep to avoid embarrassment in Kazakhstan as they held on for a narrow win that moved them to the top of their World Cup qualifying group.
Kieffer Moore gave the initially dominant visitors a first-half lead on his 50th international appearance, sliding in on the rebound after Liam Cullen’s header from a Harry Wilson free-kick had been saved.
However, Wales lost their grip on the game and Kazakhstan, ranked 114th in the world, were agonisingly close to equalising early in the second half when Galymzhan Kenzhebek’s curling 20-yard shot was tipped on to the crossbar by Karl Darlow.
Craig Bellamy’s side had chances to put the result beyond doubt but their fired-up opponents continued to press for a leveller and what would have been a significant result for Kazakh football.
With the final kick of the game, Serikzhan Muzhikov’s curling set-piece flicked the top of the bar and Wales clung on for victory.
Their subdued celebrations at the final whistle gave an idea of what they made of their indifferent performance but, most importantly, the result keeps alive their hopes of qualifying automatically for the 2026 World Cup.