EURO 2012 Qualification – Match Review: Kazakhstan versus Germany
Germany travelled all the way to Eurasia to face Kazakhstan in their crucial EURO 2012 qualification matchup. Germans were looking to make it four wins out of four with all three points against the Kazakhs. Germany’s most impressive
win of the qualification stages before the match came against Azerbaijan, as the Germans won their match against the eastern European side by a score line of six goals to nil. In their last match of the 2012 European Championships qualification stages, Germany
inflicted a one goal defeat to Turkey. Regardless of their previous impressive results, Germany took nothing for granted for their tie against Kazakhstan.
Despite the fact that their opponents were at the bottom of the qualification group A with zero points and zero wins in their qualification campaign so far, Germany fielded a side that contained several notable stars but was devoid
of the likes of Arne Friedrich, Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Due to Ballack’s injury, Philipp Lahm retained the captaincy temporarily as the Bayern Munich full back played at the right back spot for his national team side. In goal for the Germans
was their young but composed goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer. In front of Neuer, Holger Badstuber and Per Mertesacker played as Germany’s two regular centre backs. At the left back spot for the 2010 World Cup semi-finalists, Heiko Westermann was given preference
ahead of Sascha Riether.
In Germany’s midfield, Mesut Ozil took up his usual floating offensive midfielder’s role whereas Sami Khedira played alongside Toni Kroos in withdrawn defensive central midfielder positions. Thomas Mueller and Lukas Podolski were
deployed by Joachim Low in wide positions on the right and left hand side of his team’s midfield respectively. Miroslav Klose, Germany’s record goal scorer in World Cup competitions was chosen ahead of Gomez to play as his national team’s solitary striker
on the night.
On the other hand, Kazakhstan’s side featured some part time footballers and some regular first team players. In goal for the Kazakhs was their experienced campaigner, Andrey Sidelnikov. Kazakhstan’s defence was made up by the
likes of Aleksandr Kirov, Aleksei Popov, Farkhadbek Irismetov and Rinat Abdulin. In midfield for the European minnows, M. Azovsky and Heinrich Schmidtgal took up their regular berths as wingers whilst K. Geteriev and Nurgaliev played as the two central midfielders.
Kazakhstan’s front two compromised of S. Khizhnichenko and N. Zumaskaljev. From the outset, it looked as if Kazakhstan were going for a win whereas Germany used their conventional 4-3-2-1 formation which works well in possession
but is also extremely deadly when it comes to counter attacks.
In the early periods of the game, Germany totally dominated the control of the ball as in the 20th minute they created their first real chance of the game. Philipp Lahm whipped in a glorious ball down the right hand
side of the German attack but Kroos was only able to head the ball above the Kazakhstan goal. The buildup to the move was especially flavoursome as Germany retained possession by passing the ball superbly from the left side of their midfield to the right side
of their offence. In the 32nd minute, Germany were on the move once gain as this time it was Miroslav Klose who almost opened the scoring for his national team but the veteran striker only found the side netting with his shot.
Just 8 minutes after Klose’s miss for Germany, Sami Khedira made a wonderfully timed late run into the Kazakhstan penalty area, the marking was practically non-existent on the Real Madrid midfielder who only found the crossbar
as he met Thomas Mueller’s cross with an emphatic header. At the half time break, Kazakhstan were counting their lucky stars because the score line was as it was at the starting whistle, nil all. In the second half, Germany adopted a much more ruthless approach;
they finally broke the deadlock on the 48th minute mark as Miroslav Klose’s powerful shot rushed past the despairing Kazakh goalkeeper.
However, this wasn’t the end of it as Germany doubled their advantage by scoring another goal in the 78th minute of the match. After the first goal, Kazakhstan started playing some good football themselves but their
misses through Schmidtgal and Khizhnichenko came back to haunt them as Mario Gomez netted Germany’s second goal. Gomez came on as a substitute in place of Klose after the Bayern Munich striker had scored Germany’s first goal of the night.
Being two goals down gave Kazakhstan no option but to go for an all out attacking strategy, this tactical move played into Germany’s favour as the Bavarian giants got their third through Lukas Podolski in the 85th minute
of the match. Podolski’s fine finish was a fitting end to a swift German counter attack. At the final whistle Germany ended up as deserving winners by three goals to nil.
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