Kazakhstan – Belgium

Kazakhstan will finish the qualification with a worthy match.

The Kazakhstan national team is one of those teams that has experienced the stress of a coaching change during the current European qualifications. Events like this have become a sad tradition for them. First, in January of this year, after a horrendous series without goals and success, Stanislav Cherchesov left the team, and after the September defeat against Belgium with a score of 0:6, Cherchesov's successor also departed. After Ali Aliyev, Talgat Baysufinov was appointed as the acting coach. It should be noted that this coach is currently performing better than others. At least for the current Kazakhstan national team, gaining four out of six possible points in one gathering is quite a decent result. Rudi Garcia took over as the coach of the Belgian national team in January of this year and so far has shown no intention of giving up this coaching position. In his very first match in charge, the Belgian team lost to Ukraine, but subsequently took revenge, remaining in League A of the Nations League, and did not suffer further defeats. The tournament situation for the Belgian team before the seventh, second-to-last, round of Group J is more than simple: a victory guarantees them qualification for the 2026 World Cup in first place, while a loss or a draw leaves this opportunity open for the last round, in which they will face Liechtenstein. The team of this tiny country has lost all six qualifying matches, with a goal difference of 0:23. Bookmakers have labeled the visitors as favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.17 for their victory. It is undoubtedly difficult to compare the teams of Kazakhstan and Belgium. The total value of the first team is 20 million euros, while the second team is valued at 472 million euros. The results in the current year reflect a similar discrepancy. However, the visitors should not be underestimated. They face a serious flight to Kazakhstan - one of the longest in European football. Moreover, the home team has nothing to lose. In 2025, the Belgians already stumbled in away matches against Ukraine and North Macedonia. It is worth noting that the Ukrainians played their opponents on neutral ground. Let's make a bet that Kazakhstan will perform admirably in the last match of the qualifying stage.