Kazakhstan VS Russia Match Prediction
- 2019-03-24
- 14:00:00
Russia will win this match.
Russia have hosted Kazakhstan twice before in friendlies, once in 2015 and once in 2008. In 2008, they won 6-0, but in 2015 it ended 0-0 between the two sides.
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Bet365 have the following odds available for this match:
Kazakhstan are at 4/1 to win, a draw is at 5/2, and a Russia win is at 8/11.
After Matchday 1 in Group I, there are shock leaders in the clubhouse in the form of Cyprus and Kazakhstan. Each have three points to begin with, though Kazakhstan’s win over Scotland was more impressive than the one Cyprus got over lowly San Marino. That’s a brilliant start from Kazakhstan, and if they could get at least a point here, they would feel they might have a chance at the playoffs at the very least. Russia have no points coming into this match, but it’s not all bad. They lost at Belgium, a team that is widely expected to rampage through the group easily on the way to first place. A win in this match would position them well as away points are quite hard to come by in qualifiers.
In the past year, Kazakhstan have four wins, three draws, and three losses to show for their efforts. Two of their three wins, however, came in friendlies, with the only competitive win coming against lowly Andorra. In fact, they drew away to the minnows, showing just how poor this side can be away from home. This puts even more pressure upon them to succeed at home. Speaking of the Nations League, they finished in a distant second place in Group D1. They only ended up getting six points, a whole ten off the pace of group winners Georgia. This further demonstrates the struggles they should see in this group with much better sides around them.
Russia, meanwhile, have five wins, a win on penalties, two draws, a penalty loss, and six losses in all competitions this last year. They had a great summer as World Cup hosts, successfully navigating it past the group stage and then past Spain on penalties in a shocker. They were then beaten on penalties by Croatia, not a poor effort, especially for a team that many expected to see dumped out quickly after their failures in the preceding Confederations Cup. They have lost three matches in a row now, but all of them have been against teams above and around them and also on the road. So this shouldn’t be anything above them given Kazakhstan’s standing. In the Nations League, they were neither good enough to get promoted nor bad enough to get relegated after finishing second in Group B2. They were only behind on goal difference in the end to Sweden, but it wasn’t enough to see them move into League A.
Bet365 have Russia to win by one at 5/2.
No for both teams scoring, via Betfair, is at 1.75.
After a tough trip to Belgium to open up qualifying, Russia absolutely have to get three points here, or they will risk falling behind early. They don’t let that happen as they run out winners over their neighbors.
Michal Bilek is very likely to continue with the same exact team that got the shock routine win over Scotland on Thursday in this match, as it looks like he might have found just the right combination to set his side up in.
It was a whale of a night in Astana on Thursday, and they will be hoping to repeat the feat against neighbors Russia here. Yuriy Pertsukh got the evening off to a flyer with his goal after just six minutes of play. It was his first goal for his country in just his fourth cap, showing just why the manager put his confidence in him. Yan Vorogosvskiy soon doubled their money with his first international goal four minutes later, providing a shock that shocked few in the UK at the same time.
Kazakhstan have three wins, a loss, and a draw in their last five matches:
3-0 home win vs Scotland
1-0 home win vs Moldova (Fri)
2-1 loss at Georgia (UNL)
1-1 home draw vs Latvia (UNL)
4-0 home win vs Andorra (UNL)
Stanislav Cherchesov has midfielder Roman Zobnin and defender Ilya Kutepov out injured, so neither of them will be able to play a role in this tricky trip to Astana. Also set to miss out will be midfielder Aleksandr Golovin, who received a red card against Belgium late on and is suspended for this match.
For a few moments, Russia looked like being able to hang with the mighty Red Devils of Belgium as Denis Cheryshev scored an equalizer in the 16th minute to provide them hope. He’s long been their biggest named star, and it shows. He scored some big goals in the World Cup and has picked up his form here so far. Toward the back, Fyodor Kudryashov is going to be well worth a watch. At 31 years old, he only has 26 caps but is by far the most experienced player back there and has his work cut out for him against a suddenly in-form Kazakhstan side.
Russia have three losses, a win, and a draw in their last five matches:
3-1 loss at Belgium
2-0 loss at Sweden (UNL)
3-0 loss at Germany (Fri)
2-0 home win vs Turkey (UNL)
0-0 home draw vs Sweden (UNL)