Match Summary

Kazakhstan Team

England Team

After a long, hard season the England players had to gear themselves up for one last big effort for their last two World Cup group six matches of the season, in Kazakhstan and at Wembley four days later against Andorra.  The long trip to Central Asia was made with the team on a high after five wins out of five so far, but after 30 minutes of the match England were disjointed and struggling to pass the ball on a difficult surface.  They also had to face a Kazakhstan side fired up from the start and roared on by a frenzied crowd.  The home side could have been one up in the first sensational minute as Glen Johnson's sloppiness let in Zhambyl Kukeyev down the left wing.  When the winger's cross came in it looked for all the world that Sergey Ostapenko would score, but a combination of a desperate dive from Robert Green and a typically gutsy challenge from John Terry, somehow kept the ball out.

Manager Fabio Capello was furious with his team's start and Johnson's sloppiness spread to Gareth Barry and Matthew Upson, amongst others.  England just could not find their rhythm and on 17 minutes Ostapenko headed Kukeyev's cross into England's net, to the delight of the crowd�until they saw the raised offside flag of the linesman.  Thank goodness the three officials were sharper than England!

Luckily this impressive opening from Kazakhstan was never going to be sustained, especially as their own manager said that they faded as games wore on.  They also lost the impressive Ostapenko through injury.  But even England's most ardent fans would have been surprised by the events of the last ten minutes of the half.  The visitors did at last begin to get their game together and the passing gradually improved.  Wayne Rooney showed his usual enthusiasm and tested Alexandr Mokin in the home goal.  The goalkeeper did look weak at times though and England had spotted this, and started to exert some pressure on him.  Emile Heskey, who worked hard throughout, forced one great save from Mokin but the goalkeeper was flapping at crosses and it was a cross that proved his undoing.

In the 38^th minute Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard worked a short corner on the left and Gerrard drove to the bye-line before sending over a superb cross to the far post.  Barry cleverly made space, timed his run to perfection and sent a lovely header into the far corner with the keeper flat-footed.  There was a collective sigh of relief from the England players, fans and management, and really from that moment on there was only going to be one winner.

Before half-time though there was to be another bonus for England.  A score of 1-0 would have been pleasing enough after events earlier, but just on the break a clever attempt at a lob by Gerrard took a deflection and Mokin was stretching to claw the ball away.  Unfortunately for him he only palmed it straight to Heskey who scored a simple goal.  It was his first competitive goal in seven years, but a rich reward for his endeavours.

Capello probably had a few choice words with his players at the break, he was still smarting at the start they had made.  He decided on a change and took off the ineffectual Theo Walcott and sent on Shaun Wright-Phillips.  He also pushed Gerrard into a more forward role and soon England had total control of the game.  Kazakhstan never threatened again, mainly because England tightened up all round as a team, and it was no surprise when further goals were added by the visitors.

On 72 minutes it was Rooney who scored a deserved goal for number three.  Johnson worked an opening brilliantly down the right and crossed for Rooney to deflect the ball goalwards with his thigh.  Mokin somehow clawed that effort off the line, but Rooney, ever alert, quickly adjusted his feet and with a superb scissors kick, sent the rebound to the other side of the net.  It was a brilliant piece of improvisation by the Manchester United man.

Five minutes later the result was sealed when the relentless pressure on the home defenders culminated in Rinat Abdulin pulling down Heskey for an obvious and uncontested penalty.  Frank Lampard celebrated a good personal performance with an emphatic spot-kick and England were home and dry.

Source Notes

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
SkySports.com
FIFA.com - official match report
Sbornaya.kz/news
Cris Freddi - football historian
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG