Key events
Pre-match postbag. “Club football is great but you can’t beat the goddamn fun of the real thing. Our trip to watch Tuesday’s Macedonia-Wales qualifier in Skopje nearly fell foul of yesterday’s little hiccup at Heathrow. Not to worry: it ended up with a taxi to Manchester Airport and an unscheduled late-night kebab in Istanbul. Another flight and a hire car later, we now find ourselves in a vast casino on the Kosovo-Macedonia border. Bucket hats might break the dress code but things are definitely looking up as we are sitting at an overstaffed bar where the drinks are free. So kind of a casino to provide free beer. September’s trip to the Kazakhstan game will be plain sailing compared to this” – Alan Pugh
“Great to see so many Leeds names on the Wales team sheet. What does this say about both/either? Dreaming of greatness while tripping over their own bootlaces? Obviously Wales will be hoping for a win, clean sheet and bonus point (errr, sorry, wrong game). Now that their rugby is officially [word redacted by Family Website Editor], will Craig’s boyos be the big new hope? It’s a funny old game” – Jeremy Boyce
Today’s other game in Group J has already finished. North Macedonia have beaten Liechtenstein 3-0 in Vaduz, with goals from Aleksandar Trajkovski, Visar Musliu and Bojan Miovski. Wales travel to North Macedonia on Tuesday, while Kazakhstan go to Liechtenstein. The fifth country in this group, Belgium, don’t begin their campaign until June.
Wales make four changes to the team that started the 4-1 Nations League victory over Iceland. Karl Darlow replaces Danny Ward in goal, while David Brooks, Connor Roberts and Sorba Thomas take the places of the benched Ben Cabango and Mark Harris and the injured Harry Wilson.
The teams
Wales: Darlow, Roberts, Rodon, Ben Davies, Williams, Sheehan, Thomas, Daniel James, Brooks, Johnson, Cullen.
Subs: Ward, Adam Davies, Mepham, Cabango, Allen, Lawrence, Matondo, Moore, Dasilva, Jordan James, Mark Harris, Broadhead.
Kazakhstan: Zarutskiy, Tapalov, Bystrov, Marochkin, Alip, Vorogovskiy, Chesnokov, Tagybergen, Muzhikov, Samorodov, Zhaksylykov.
Subs: Pokatilov, Seisen, Sultanbek Astanov, Zhumakhanov, Zhaksybaev, Kenzhebek, Nauryzbek Zhagorov, Zhukov, Aymbetov, Satpaev, Orazov, Mukhamed.
Referee: Donatas Rumsas (Lithuania).
Preamble
One of the top-30 sides in the world host the team ranked 110th, a collective which has lost ten of its last 11 competitive matches, drawing the other 0-0. On paper, this is as close as it gets to a surefire thing, and thus a hard sell. But then football is football, so you never know … and in any case, Wales right now are just so much goddamn fun. For example, has a goalless draw ever been as enjoyable as this?
Not too often, is the correct answer to that one. So let’s settle down for some more top-drawer Saturday-night light entertainment courtesy of Bruce Forsyth Craig Bellamy and the lads. Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
