Courtesy: www.uefa.com

Kazakhs committed to Futsal
Tuesday, 06 January 2004
By Timur Kamashev

As Kazakhstan line up for their preliminary round mini-tournament for the 2004/05 UEFA European Futsal Championship in Varna, they have good reason to be confident. From Thursday they will face Armenia, Romania and hosts Bulgaria over four days, and UEFA's newest member nation are in the unusual position of being favourites.

Further progress
Ranked 28th in the world and 16th in Europe, Kazakh players have taken Futsal to their hearts over the years, and Football Union of Kazakhstan (FSK) vice-president Seilda Bayshakov is confident they can continue to progress as a UEFA member nation.

'Great traditions'
"Kazakh Futsal has great traditions," he told uefa.com. "In 1999, we finished third in the Asian championship in Kuala Lumpur, and a year later we won second place in Bangkok, also winning a place in the final tournament of the [FIFA Futsal] World Championship in Guatemala in 2000.

High hopes
"We were lacking the finances to get ready for the upcoming tournament but thanks to the efforts of FSK president Rakhat Aliyev, we are now able to take all our best players to Bulgaria. With all our problems, we're still hoping to qualify, otherwise we would not have put so much effort into organising our participation."

Promising start
Certainly, Kazakhstan's first games as a European nation showed a team of some promise. Competing in last November's 2004 World Championship qualifying mini-tournament in Andorra, they led 1-0 against the mighty Ukraine before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat and also beat their hosts, Andorra, 4-1 to come close to winning a place in next year's finals in Chinese Taipei.

Captain's dream
The man who scored the goal against Ukraine, runners-up at the 2003 European Championship finals, was Kazakhstan's captain Alexander Bondarev, and he is full of hope for the future. "We have experience of playing European opposition in club tournaments and also in qualifying for world championships in Andorra," he said.

No fear
"We are not afraid of the Bulgarians, Romanians and Armenians. The most important thing is to get the points in the opening game and get the psychological advantage this way. We were medallists in the Asian finals, so there is no reason why we cannot do the same in Europe."

Club success
Kazakh clubs have certainly suggested that such an upset might one day be possible, with MFC Zhigitter performing admirably in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Futsal Cup last October. They finished bottom of their group but enjoyed a 3-1 win in their final game against group winners ZVV West Stars of the Netherlands.

Domestic depth
Zhgitter only managed a third-placed finish in the recent Kazakhstan Futsal Cup - Tulpar Karagandy beat Kairat Almaty 5-1 in the final - to demonstrate there is strength in depth among the Kazakh teams, something which augurs well for the future of their national side.

Varna destiny
The immediate prospects of the team rest on their display in Varna, but they have perhaps more reason than any of their rivals to long for a place in the qualifying stages.

Added incentive
Should they win through, they would be pooled alongside Ukraine, Belarus and Slovakia in Group 2 of the qualifying round. Eager for revenge against Ukraine, the prospect of playing the two teams ranked directly above them in Europe - 14th-placed Slovakia and 15th-placed Belarus - would add even more spice.

Bright future
With Futsal growing in popularity every year, Kazakhstan are well placed to joing the sport's international élite. As they may be thinking as they travel to Bulgaria, first Europe, and then the world.