March 10 & 11, 2022
Thursday March 10, 2022
FC Taraz 1-0 FC Ordabasy ( att : 3,000 )
Zumabek ( 20 )
FK Aksu 1-0 vs FC Astana ( att : 4,000 )
Turlybek ( 81 )
Qyzyljar SK Petropavlovsk 0-1 Shakhtar Karagandy ( att : 500 )
Nazymkhanov ( 81 )
Friday March 11, 2022
FK Akzhayik P-P FC Turan
FC Caspiy Aktau 0-0 FC Tobol Kostanay ( att : 2,500 )
FC Aktobe 2-1 FC Ayrtau ( att : 2,000 )
Videmont ( 45 ), Zulpa ( 83 ); Filipovic ( 20 )
FC Maktaaral 0-1 Kairat Almaty ( att : 1,000 )
Kante ( 26 pen )
The 2022 season in Kazakhstan has started and already reached week 2 of it’s 26 game season. FC Tobol Kostanay are the defending champions after having clinched their first title since 2010 by finishing 4 points ahead of FC Astana. 2020 champions Kairat finished in third place, 10 points behind Tobol but 12 points ahead of 4th place Qyzyljar. Aksu and Maktaaral were promoted from the Kazakhstan First League.
All matches are now live streamed on Onefootball.com and Eleven Sports, but highlights on the PFLK TV YouTube channel, and the Kazakhstan League website ( www.pflk.kz ) appear to have been geo-blocked in the UK this week. Instead they do however seem to be available on the QAZSPORT TV YouTube channel. Onefootball.com posts highlights a few days after the match has been played.
Taraz finished 10th in 2021 and opened the season with a 0-0 draw at fellow strugglers Turan so a home win over Ordabasy, 5th last season, was a bit of a surprise. Kazakhstan Under 21 striker Abylayhan Zumabek settled the result with a calm finish after Baytana’s incisive through ball. Taraz could easily had have a greater lead at half-time but Baytana, Amirkhanov and Zumabek all missed good chances. Ordabasy had most of the possession in the second half but failed to create any clearcut chances, and Taraz comfortably held on to take the three points.
Taraz introduced Brazilian Jorge Elias from the bench, who had previously featured in these diaries whilst playing for Lithuanian side Panavezys, whilst Ordabasy’s line-up included Ukrainian midfielder Oleksandr Batyshchev, who made 28 appearances for Belarus side FK Gomel in 2021.
Newly promoted Aktu caused a huge shock with their 1-0 home win over 6 times champions Astana. Aktu had a drawn their opening match 0-0 at unfancied Ayrtau and whilst Astana had been uninspiring in their 0-0 home draw with Shakhter Karagandy, dropping three points to the newcomers already casts doubt on their title credentials. Astana have failed to score in their first two games, and at times it looked as if the only way they would score would be from the penalty spot. However, female referee Elvira Nurmustafina rightly shrugged away a loud appeal for a handball and ignored Croat Tomasov’s hopeful tumble in the area. When the referee did award a late penalty to Astana, the lengthy VAR review concluded the Aktu defender had fairly cleared the ball before Liberian Kamara had fallen to the floor. Aktu keeper Kucherenko was called up to make one close range block from Beysebekov in the first half, but apart from that had a relatively easy afternoon.
The only goal of the game came with just under 10 minutes to play when Aktu had a 4 on 3 break. As Ukrainian centre-back Beskorovainyi stood off and failed to close him down, Turlybek had time to control, pick his spot and fire into the bottom corner from 15 yards.
Astana’s line-up included Belarus internationals Max Ebong and Artem Rakhmanov, who recently joined from Rukh Brest. French winger Jeremy Manzarro had joined from champions Tobol.
Shakhter Karagandy were on the road for the second week running, and followed up their creditable draw at Astana with a 1-0 win at Qyzyljar, who have now played two, lost two and scored nil. For some reason the match was played at Astana’s stadium rather than in Petropavlovsk, which probably accounts for the low attendance, with the cameras focusing on what appeared to be one elderly Shakhter support who had made the journey to Nur-Sultan.
The game was heavy on endeavour but very few clear-cut chances. Malyarov volleyed wide for Shakhter in the first half, and in the second half three long-range efforts from Shakhter midfielder Timur Dosmagambetov went close.
The winning goal occurred when the Qyzyljar defence failed to deal with a long ball out of defence. Nazymkhanov’s first time effort hit team-mate Tattybayev, and with the home side slow to react to the rebound, Nazymkhanov ran onto the loose ball to shoot home. The VAR review showed that the ball had struck the arm of Tattybaev but concluded that it was not deliberate or in an unnatural position so the goal stood. Shakhter nearly doubled their lead in the closing stages but Tattybayev was denied by a good save.
Shakhter’s starting XI included Pavel Nazarenko, formerly of Vitebsk, whilst ex-Kauno Zalgiris Ukrainian midfielder Yuri Buschmann featured for Qyzyljar.
Qyzyljar had 57% of possession but rarely threatened, which probably highlights their problems. It’s early days yet, but Shakhter look a good bet to improve on their 6th place finish last year, but Qyzyljar will struggle to repeat 4th place.
Caspiy Aktau continued their good start to the season by holding champions Tobol to a 0-0 draw at home. Tobol were featured in these diaries last season when they won at Akzhayik to clinch the title, and players in their squad for this match included Uzbek striker Igor Sergeev, who scored Tobol’s only goal in their opening round win over, ironically again, Akzhayik. Also starting were ex-Energetik BGU and FK Minsk midfielder Vladislav Vasiljev who was at Uzbek side Andijon last year, ex-Manchester United Serbian Zoran Tosic and Kazakh international Askhat Tagybergen, who impressed in the match at Akzhayik.
The Caspiy line-up was completely unfamiliar to Fatbear apart from Ukrainian defender Artem Baronovskiy who was at Alzhayik last season, but diminutive Georgian left-winger Rati Ardazishvili quickly caught the eye, first cutting inside to send a side from the angle of the penalty area inches wide, and then from a similar position forcing Tobol keeper Mokin to make a diving tip over the bar. In response, Tagybergen was denied by a fine save from a shot from just inside the area, and Maliy headed a corner wide from inside the centre of the 6 yard box, but it remained 0-0 at the interval
Caspiy should have taken the lead in the second half but Baronovskiy missed his kick inside the 6 yard area, admittedly under pressure from Maliy, and Ardazishvili had another jinking run to deliver a shot that was blocked at the near post by Mokin, and the loose ball fell kindly for a defender to hack to safety.
The best chance for Tobol again fell to Tagybergen but his rasping shot thudded against the cross-bar and over. Sergeev had a sniff of chance, but keeper Ayazbaev was quickly off his line to smoother the chance at close quarters.
Tobol seemed content with a point from a match in which they only had 45% of the possession.
With just three goals, Aktobe’s come-back win over Ayrtau is actually the highest scoring match of the season so far. To-date, there has been only 13 goals from 13 matches. In freezing condition, typical of all matches this week, and snow piled up on the side of the pitch, several Aktobe players were wearing bobble hats.
Ayrtau took an early lead, when from a lightning counter attack, Polish forward Piotr Grzelczak sped down the left wing and delivered a perfect low cross for Croatian Andrija Filipovic to side foot home. Aktobe drew level on the stroke of half-time when Frenchman Hugo Videmont, who had been prolific in the Lithuanian A-Lyga for FK Zalgiris in the past two season, sent a curling free-kick over the wall and into the top corner. There was still time for a mass flare-up for a fairly harmless challenge that ended with a yellow card to a player from either side and the half-time whistle to allow everyone to cool-off ( if necessary in the sub-zero temperatures ! )
The game’s most controversial incident occured 13 minutes from the end of the match. The referee awarded a penalty to Aktobe for a handball, whilst Ayrtau claimed their defender had been elbowed in the face. After a delay off nearly two minutes, and with Videmont preparing to take the penalty, the referee was called over to the VAR monitor, and after further consideration reversed his decision.
Ayrtau’s relief didn’t last long though, as a neat 1:2 between Lithuanian Arturas Zulpa and Erlanov put Zulpa behind the back-line to finish across goal into the far corner for the winner.
After their 1-0 win at newly promoted Maktaaral, Kairat Almaty are the only side with a 100% record after two games. Their squad for the match was virtually unrecognisable from the teams fielded last year for their two matches covered by these diaries, with only Alykulov and Kante remaining from the starting XI. Kante proved to be the match winner, converting a first half penalty.
Maktaaral included two players familiar to readers of these diaries, with ex-Gomel captain and Belarus centre-back Ruslan Yudenkov in the starting line with Pavel Chikida, also ex-Gomel on the bench. The home side started brightly and Sebaiihi should have given Maktaaral the lead after bursting through a square back line only to be thwarted by a good block by Kairat keeper Ustimenko.
Maktaaral will be encouraged that they had 58% of possession but their impetus faded after an extremely harsh second yellow card to Sebaiihi with 12 minutes to go. Despite holding on to take the three points, Kairat were far from convincing.
The match between Akzhayik and Turan was postponed due to frost and snow making the pitch conditions unplayable.
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