At the end of March, the Kazakhstan national football team will play a two-legged confrontation with the national team of Moldova in the UEFA Nations League. The best of the two teams will remain in Division C, while the loser will be placed in the lowest ranked Division D.

Earlier, the coaching staff, headed by Andrei Karpovich, has already announced an extended list of 33 players for the national team. It also included several players who had not previously played for the national team in official matches. The correspondent of bbabo.net talks about five players who have a theoretical chance to make their debut for the national team this month.

Mukhammedzhan Seisen - goalkeeper, 23 years old We start with the goalkeeper of Taraz, because he, unlike the others, has a friendly match in the national team. In June last year, Seisen came on as a half-time substitute in a test game against North Macedonia (0:4). In the second half, the Kazakh squad conceded three goals.

But Muhammedzhan has not yet received his chance in tournament matches. Ten times he remained on the bench in the framework of the League of Nations and the selection for the Euro, but he never entered the field.

At the start of KPL-2022, Seisen played 180 minutes, leaving his possessions intact. But this is unlikely to give him the opportunity to play in the confrontation with Moldova.

The importance of these two matches is very high, and the future of Karpovich's coaching staff in the national team depends on these games. Therefore, most likely, Mukhammedzhan will again remain on the bench, letting the more experienced Igor Shatsky or Stas Pokatilov pass ahead.

Nurlan Dairov - right back, 26 years old

Another player of "Taraz", who was previously called up to the national team. All in the same June friendly match with North Macedonia, Dairov remained on the bench. He had no other chances to enter the field in a national team shirt.

At the youth level, he played for the U-19 team, but he never reached the youth team. Now he plays for Taraz and was indispensable in the starting two rounds of the KPL. His efforts also helped the probbabo.net team to two clean sheets.

Dairov can get into the final list of the national team, but as for entering the field, everything is much more complicated. The competition on both flanks of the defense is quite strong, and it is not a fact that Nurlan will find a place on the field even during the game.

Arman Kenesov - left back, 21 years old

This season, the young all-rounder plays for Aktobe. He can play both on the flank of defense and attack, if necessary, he can easily close the position in the center of the field or take on the role of a playmaker. Most importantly, Kenesov is equally effective in almost any part of the field.

He did not play for the national team in official matches (if you do not take into account the February sparring with the national team of KPL legionnaires). But on account of his ten meetings in the T-shirt of the youth team of Kazakhstan.

In the starting round of the KPL, he remained on the bench, but towards the end of the lost match with Kairat (0:2) he came on as a substitute instead of Dmitry Shomko. In the second round, Arman was in the starting lineup and spent all 90 minutes on the field, demonstrating a solid level of play.

This fact is indicative that the names of the same Shomko were not included in the expanded composition. And after a good start to the season, the 21-year-old wagon can stake out a place at the start of Aktobe.

It is possible that Arman will be in the final list of the national team. But whether he will enter the field in the games with Moldova is a rather complicated question. Much will depend on the course of the confrontation and the score on the scoreboard.

Abylaikhan Nazimkhanov - attacking midfielder, 20 years old

Only last month, the Shakhtar player celebrated his 20th birthday, and now he has entered the extended list of the national team. It is indicative that for the entire last season Abylaikhan went to the base for KPL matches only twice, and in the current campaign he repeated this achievement already after two rounds.

With "Astana" he spent 89 minutes on the field, and in the game with "Kyzyl-Jar" he ran all 90, scoring the winning goal - 1:0. It was his first goal in the Premier League of Kazakhstan.

Interestingly, the midfielder has not played a single match for the youth team, and only once he was in the reserve of the U-21 team.

Now Nazimkhanov is in good physical shape, and this is supported by a psychological recovery after such a start of the season. Who knows, maybe the coaching staff will give the guy an advance by including him in the final squad.

Aslan Adil - striker, 24 years old

The forward, who previously played only in the youth team under 19, started the new season well with Caspian. The footballer, who previously played only in his native Zhetysu, scored the team's winning goal in the first round match against Kyzyl-Zhar (1:0). An interesting coincidence turns out that two players at once can make their debut in the national team after winning goals against the Petropavlovsk team, which is headed by Karpovich.Adil can play both in the center of the attack and on the flanks of the attack. In the game with "Kyzyl-Zhar" he spent 78 minutes on the field, and in the second round against "Tobol" - 59. The fact that Aslan has not yet played full matches in the new season raises certain doubts about whether he will get into the final list.

But no one can be written off ahead of time. At first glance, it seems that it is Adil and Dairov who are less preferred from this list, but each coach has his own opinion on the players. It may be that the name of Aslan in the extended list is not accidental, and Karpovich has certain plans for this striker.

It should be noted that Yuriy Logvinenko is the most experienced player of the national team from among those included in the extended list. On account of the player "Aktobe" 57 appearances for the main team of the country. The top 3 also includes defender of "Tobol" Sergey Maly (52) and midfielder of "Astana" Islambek Kuat (46). The complete list looks like this:

1. Yuri Logvinenko - 57 caps

2. Sergey Maly - 52

3. Islambek Kuat - 46

4. Gafurzhan Suyumbaev - 39

5. Alexey Shchetkin - 37

6. Abzal Beisebekov - 36

7. Askhat Tagybergen - 34

8. Stas Pokatilov - 26

9. Roman Murtazaev - 24

10. Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov - 21

11. Yan Vorogovsky, Alexander Marochkin, Georgy Zhukov - 20

14. Abat Aimbetov - 17

15. Temirlan Erlanov, Marat Bystrov - 13

17. Nuraly Alip, Aibol Abiken - 12

19. Timur Dosmagambetov - 9

20. Vladislav Vasiliev - 8

21. Igor Shatsky, Ramazan Orazov, Aibar Zhaksylykov - 5

24. Bauyrzhan Baytana - 4

25. Samat Zharynbetov, Artur Shushenachev - 3

27. Bagdat Kairov, Duman Narzildaev - 1

29. Mukhammedzhan Seisen, Nurlan Dairov, Arman Kenesov, Abylaikhan Nazimkhanov, Aslan Adil - 0.

Recall that the first match against Moldova will take place away on Thursday, March 24. The return meeting will be held in Nur-Sultan on Tuesday, March 29.

Moldova named squad for matches with Kazakhstan in the League of Nations

Photo: KFF (1), FC Taraz (2), FC Aktobe (3), FC Shakhtar (4), FC Kaspiy (5)

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