Football 39n3s
Wales vs Kazakhstan Preview, Prediction, Team News and Confirmed Lineups 542j5e
Cai is a news and features writer that specialises in football, but has experience covering a variety of other sports, including darts, basketball, American football, MMA, boxing and more. He holds a degree in Football Journalism (BA Hons) from the University of Derby, and worked with Nottingham Forest FC and Burton Albion FC throughout his studies. Cai also has experience working in social media with the Football Association of Wales, where he worked on a freelance basis, and has also been an accredited writer in the JD Cymru Premier for both Y Clwb Pêl-Droed and welshfootie since the 2019/20 season.
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Craig Bellamy and his Wales side get their World Cup qualifying campaign underway against Kazakhstan on Saturday, and our match preview has the latest team news and lineups ahead of the action.
Wales vs Kazakhstan Preview 48t1d
Looking to build on their unbeaten start to life under new head coach Craig Bellamy, Wales get their World Cup qualifying campaign underway against Kazakhstan at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Dragons finished top of their Nations League group with an unbeaten record, ing three wins and three draws against Turkey, Iceland and Montenegro, thus securing promotion back up to League A.
They rounded off the campaign with a mightily impressive 4-1 home victory over Iceland, in which Liam Cullen scored twice, along with a goal apiece for Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson after going a goal down early on.
🅱️rennan pic.twitter.com/VoFUiKLuAo
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) March 18, 2025
According to the UK’s best football betting sites, Wales are second favourites at around 10/3 to finish top of their World Cup qualifying group, while Kazakhstan are rated as the third favourites at around 12/1.
Belgium, who are the favourites, North Macedonia and Liechtenstein make up the remainder of Group J.
The Hawks, meanwhile, head into this one off the back of a 2-0 friendly win over Caribbean minnows Curacao on Wednesday night. Prior to that, they were winless in 10 consecutive matches, losing nine and drawing one.
Their visit to the Welsh capital will mark the first-ever match between Kazakhstan and Wales.
Wales Team News m4d49
Bellamy’s latest squad announcement saw Rangers forward Tom Lawrence make his return after four years away from international football, while there was also a first ever call-up for 18-year-old Motherwell midfielder Kai Andrews.
Star players Ethan Ampadu and Wilson both miss out through injury, and so does the Dragons’ captain Aaron Ramsey following confirmation that he will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing hamstring surgery.
Rhys Norrington-Davies, Owen Beck and Wes Burns are also out injured.
Kazakhstan Team News 5c4j
As for the visitors, Artur Shushenachev, Oralkhan Omirtayev, David Esimbekov and Dulat Talyspaev haven’t been included in Aliyev’s final squad after originally being named in the preliminary squad.
Regular starters Alibek Kasym and Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov will also reportedly miss March’s international camp.
Wales vs Kazakhstan Confirmed Lineups 391e2i
Wales Confirmed Lineup:
Darlow; Roberts, Rodon, Davies, Williams; Sheehan, Thomas; James, Brooks, Johnson; Cullen
Kazakhstan Confirmed Lineup:
Zarutskiy; Tapalov, Bystrov, Marochkin, Alip, Vorogovskiy; Chesnokov, Tagybergen, Muzhikov, Samorodov; Zhaksylykov
Wales vs Kazakhstan Prediction 124r6
The best betting sites in the UK heavily favour Wales to claim three points in their World Cup qualifying opener at around 1/5, while a draw is rated at 21/4 and a shock win for Kazakhstan is priced at 16/1.
We at SportsCasting don’t think it’ll be quite as plain sailing as the bookmakers are making out however, as both Wilson and Ampadu, who are arguably the Dragons’ two most influential players, are out injured.
Despite this, we still think Bellamy’s men will get the job done, but only by a narrow margin.
Prediction: Wales 1-0 Kazakhstan