May 14, 2021
The Kazakhstan Premier League has now reached round 11. Since these diaries reviewed Kairat’s 1-1 draw at Qzyziljar in round 9 they subsequently dropped more points with a 1-1 home draw with lowly Shakhtar Karagandy, conceding the equalizer in the 94th minute after missing a bagful of chances. Shakhtar keeper Zakirov tried to claim the goal, although it has been officially classified as an own goal by Kairat centre-back Alip. It was the second consecutive game in which Kairat had failed to hold onto a lead and they faced a tricky test today to keep up their hopes of retaining their title.
With Taraz having lost at Tobol and at home to Astana, Kairat though had moved up to third place, albeit they now sat 9 points off the leaders Astana,
FK Akzhayik were promoted from the Kazakhstan First Division last season and have had a solid season so far, having won 5 and lost 5 of their 10 matches to sit in 5th place going into today’s encounter. At home they had won 3 matches but lost to Qyzyljar. In their last home fixture they beat Zhetyzu 3-2 without any spectators being present, before winning 1-0 at Kaisar Kyzylorda. Although spectators are permitted to attend matches in a couple of cities in Kazakhstan, today’s match was also played behind closed doors.
Akzhayik play in the city of Oral, also known as Uralsk, located in the north-west of the country. It is 2650 kilometers from Almaty, or a 37 hour drive !
Akzhayik normally play at the 8,320 capacity Petr Atoyan stadium but matches are currently being played at the Akzhaylik Stadum, which appears to more of a training/reserve team ground and has an artificial grass surface. Their home colours are all Blue.
Sides in the Premier League are permitted to sign 8 foreign players, but only 5 can be on the field at any time. Akzhayik’s registered foreign players are all Ukrainian, namely keeper Sergei Litovchenko, forwards Mykola Kovtalyuk and Oleksiy Chichikov and defender Artem Baronovskyi. Kovtalyuk was the leading scorer so far this season with 3 goals. However citizens of Russia and Belarus are not counted as foreign players !
Akzhayik made two changes from the side that won at Kyzylorda with keeper Ilya Karavaev coming in for Litovchenko and Belarus wing-back Pavel Nazarenko replaced Abdrakhmanov. Nazarenko appeared 28 times for Vitebsk in 2020, and has also played for Dinamo Brest, Slutsk and Gorodeya amongst others. Russian defender Soslan Takulov was also in the Belarus Premier League last season, with 15 appearances for Slutsk, but Russian forward Marat Burayev, who was also at Slutsk last season, was only on the bench.
With Russians Shustikov and Yatskiy also starting, Akzhayik took to the field with only 4 Kazakhs in their XI.
Kairat also made two changes from their last match, with veteran 36 year old Brazilian International striker Vagner Love, who had a long career successfully representing CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, replacing Eserola, and Serbian defensive midfielder Dugalic replaced Abiken.
Live streams of the match were available on Bet365.com and the Kazakh league website ( www.pflk.kz ). The temperature at the 16.00 kick-off local time in Uralsk was 31 degrees, compared to 15 degrees in Almaty ! Water breaks were taken mid-way through both halves.
Akzahik started as 13/2 outsiders with Kairat favourites at 2/5. The draw was 3/1.
The stadium did appear to be very low key for a top flight football match. It was effectively a one sided ground, with one uncovered stand, opposite which were two caged 5-A-Side football pitches in front of some large apartment blocks. A couple of industrial units and a busy road were behind a large fence behind one goal, whilst at the other end some trees and houses were fenced off. It was reminiscent of some of the grounds in Armenia.
Kairat dominated the first half, and despite 66% of the possession created very little and there wasn’t much goalmouth action. The home side were content to sit back with numbers behind the ball, inviting Kairat to break them down.
Vagner Love was on corner duties for Kairat from both sides of the pitch, and the best chance early on fell to Vagner Love, who steered a pull back from the by-line just wide. Akzhayik keeper Karavaev needed to be alert to deal with a bouncing back-pass, controlling the ball on his chest and volleying from his goal-line as a Kairat attacker attempted to close him down. At the other end Kairat keeper Pokatilov was nearly embarrassed when having to return to his area to gather the ball, he stumbled and fell, but managed to get to the ball before Kovtalyuk could pounce.
The best move of the half came in the 38th minute, four first time passes put Alykulov in space but the Kyrgyztan International’s finish was weak after cutting back inside from the left. Just before the interval Polyakov headed over from a good position but it remained goal-less at the break.
Kairat made two half-time substitutions in an attempt to shake things up a little, but it worked in an unintended way, as they fell behind in the 54th minute. A first time cross field pass over the back-line put Nazarenko behind Shyumbaev, and with the keeper off his line, a perfectly executed lob put Akzhayik in front !
Kairat were rocked by conceding, and were nearly caught out by two more swift counter attacks. However, they soon ramped up the tempo in search of the equaliser, with Kosovic and Vagner Love sending long range efforts into the safe hands of Karavaev, and Shushenachev turned but shot narrowly wide from 12 yards.
For a while the game became stretched and the lively Nazarenko was brutally flattened by Shyumbaev before he could enter the penalty area. The centre-back then had the nerve to have a rant at the referee for awarding a free-kick !
Kante then took his turn to send a long range shot straight to the Akzhayik keeper before Akzhayik produced their best move of the match. Nazarenko’s long ball out of defence down the touch-line was intelligently passed across the full width of the pitch by Kovtalyuk to put Kozlov in space. Kozlov ran down the left wing and delivered an excellent cross but unfortunately for the home side, Kovtalyuk was just unable to get on the end of it.
Kairat laid siege to the Akzhayik goal in the last 10 minutes as the game became attack versus defence. Vagner Love was found in space on the right but his shot across the face of the goal literally went an inch the wrong side of the post, and after Shushenachev was crowded out, Dugalic headed the subsequent corner against the post with Karavaev rooted to the spot.
The final few minutes were frantic as Kairat became increasingly more desperate, which was summed up by Abiken opting to take an optimistic long range shot when many of his colleagues were queuing up in the penalty area for a cross. Again, Karavaev’s handling was secure.
With the final whistle going seconds after, the home side celebrated a notable victory which saw them move above Kairat and into third place in the table. Kairat’s title hopes laid in tatters.
FK Akzhayik : Karavaev – Takulov, Shushtikov ( Pokatilov ), Sapanov, Baronovskyi – Nazarenko, Tapalov, Antipov ( Khairov ), Yatskiy, Chichikov ( Kozlov ) – Kovtalyuk ( Michurenkov )
Kairat Almaty ; Pokatilov – Mikanovic ( Ulshin ), Alip, Polyakov, Suyembaev ( Abiken ) – Hovhannisyan ( Shushenachev ), Kosovic, Dugalic, Vagner Love, Alykulov – Kante ( Eseola )
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