Cymru 3-1 Kazakhstan
- Bellamy begins World Cup qualifiers with a win
- Matondo scores his first goal for Cymru
- North Macedonia next in qualifiers
Cymru have taken the points in their opening match of the European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup after Dan James, Ben Davies and Rabbi Matondo scored the goals to deny Kazakhstan.
Craig Bellamy’s team controlled the majority of the match whilst playing positive attacking football.
Dan James was a danger to the Kazakhstan defence and it seemed inevitable that he would be the person to break the deadlock. There was some fortune when the ball broke for him in the box after Cymru’s attack looked like it had broken down. However, his endeavour is what created the chance as he was alert to the ball coming to his feet to strike it into the net.
Connor Roberts was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box and following a lengthy VAR check, the decision stood. Askhat Tagybergen took the spot kick and was fortunate to see it go in as Karl Darlow got to the ball but despite it hitting him, it rolled over the line.
A VAR check late in the half looked set to see Kazakhstan reduced to 10 players, however, after reviewing the VAR footage the referee decided to show Samorodov a yellow card.
Cymru made a fantastic start to the second half when from a corner kick Sorba Thomas sent into the box, a powerful header from Ben Davies hammered the ball past Alexandr Zarutskiy.
With Kazakhstan’s half-time team talk obliterated so early on in the second half, Cymru were desperate for a third goal and they were made to wait for it.
Rabbi Matondo came off the bench to get on the end of Thomas’ ball into the box during the 90th minute to score his first goal for Cymru.
Attentions now turn to Tuesday’s (25 March) game against North Macedonia, who beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in their opening match.
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As it happened
Cymru 3-1 Kazakhstan
