ASTANA – Iceland recently drew with Kazakhstan and advanced to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) EURO 2016 with two games still remaining in Group A.
Ulan Konysbayev of Kazakhstan (R) and Josef Šural of Czech Republic during the match. Photo: AFP Getty Images
Kazakhstan withstood 12 attempts on the net from Iceland, but managed to stand strong in a lopsided game. In three of Kazakhstan’s own attempts, they saw no result.
However, earlier the countrywas just 16 minutes away from a sensation in a Sept. 3 match against the Czech Republic but couldn’t hold off the pressure towards the end-game and yielded 1-2.
Kazakh striker Yuri Logvinenko scored both goals in an October 2014 encounter where Kazakhstan lost 2:4. This time around he once again picked the defence early by rising above defender Václav Procházka for a header past Petr Čech in the 20th minute from a cross served by his teammate Bauyrzhan Islamkhan.
The Czechs were stunned and launched a few attacks before the half-time whistle; one of them by David Limberský in the 37th minute even hit the bar, while all their attempts were futile.
The second half started with a couple of attacks from both teams, however, the Czech launched an all-out attack on the Kazakhs in hopes of getting back into the game. Their efforts paid off when substitute Milan Škoda came back with an equaliser in the 73rd minute. He sent a header by the Kazakhstan’s defenсemen and his teammmates from a cross by Bořek Dočkal, his associate in the effort.
In the 85th minute, Škoda put his team forward by catching off-guard Kazakhstan’s 22-year-old goalkeeper Stas Pokatilov and sent another header into the Kazakh net.
Team Kazakhstan now has only two points after a draw with Latvia 0:0 on Sept. 9 last year in Astana.
Next up for Kazakhstan is The Netherlands. The teams are to face off in Astana on Oct. 10, and on Oct. 13 Kazakhstan will challenge Latvia in Riga.
