In March, the Kazakhstan national football team will find out their tournament destiny in the League of Nations for the season 2022/23. The correspondent of bbabo.net argues in which of the divisions the national team could show itself in the greatest glory.
On December 16, she recognized the rivals for the upcoming League of Nations. Thus, Talgat Baysufinov's team in Division C can play against Slovakia, Belarus and Azerbaijan, or in Division D - with Liechtenstein, Andorra and Latvia.
This will depend on the outcome of the two-legged confrontation with Moldova. The play-offs for the right to remain in Division C will take place in the spring of 2022. On March 24, the rivals will meet in Chisinau at the Zimbru stadium, and five days later they will play at the Astana Arena in Nur-Sultan.
It is noteworthy that although our national team met with the Moldovans five times, in all cases these were friendly matches, which were all played in Turkey without exception. The statistics are still parity - two wins for each of the rivals, as well as a draw in one of the meetings.
As for the rest of the potential rivals, the national team has not previously played only with Slovakia and Liechtenstein. But I met with Azerbaijan nine times - this is the most frequent opponent in the history of the national team (four wins, three draws and two defeats). Kazakhstan played seven matches with Latvia (one victory, four draws and two defeats), less often Kazakhstani footballers confronted the Belarusians - five matches, in which there was one draw and four defeats, and the national team of Kazakhstan met with Andorra four times - three wins and a curious draw in away match of the first League of Nations.
Note that the group stage of the next tournament due to the 2022 World Cup will take place in June and September next year. And in 2023, the League of Nations playoffs will take place, where the winner of the tournament will be determined.
Here it is worth talking about the prospects of the Kazakhstan national team. The next League of Nations will be linked to the qualifiers for Euro 2024, which will take place in Germany. This tournament has already allowed the national teams of Hungary, Slovakia, Scotland and North Macedonia to play at the last European Championship. The latter reached the final stage, becoming the winners in the playoffs of Division D. Now the format of the Euro 2024 qualification has not been approved, and it is not yet known how the tickets to the play-offs through the League of Nations 2022/23 will be distributed. Official figures from UEFA say the format is due to be announced in June 2022.
The difference between the upcoming League of Nations and the first draw is that there will be only two groups in Division D, not four. It is unlikely that the winners of these groups will receive a simplified way to enter the European Championship. So it is premature to assert that there are great chances for the Kazakhstan national team if it participates in the weakest division of the tournament.
By the way, the draw of the second League of Nations, in which Kazakhstan took the last place in one of the groups of Division C, is partly related to the European qualification for the 2022 World Cup. The teams of Austria and the Czech Republic entered the play-offs through the League of Nations. Both played in Division C.
Recall that the national team of Kazakhstan, gaining three points in the selection for the 2022 World Cup, took the last place in group D.
bbabo.Net