Wales 3-1 Kazakhstan: Craig Bellamy's side start 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with win

Wales opened their World Cup campaign with a 3-1 victory over Kazakhstan.

Daniel James gave Wales an early advantage in front of a near-capacity 32,473 crowd at the Cardiff City Stadium but that was wiped out by Askhat Tagybergen's penalty, awarded after Connor Roberts had handled.

Kazakhstan were threatening to throw a spanner in the works but skipper Ben Davies and Rabbi Matondo, with his first Wales goal in the final minute, ensured a winning start for Craig Bellamy's side.

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It was only then that Welsh fans could breathe easily, but Bellamy will be delighted to bank three points before a tougher assignment in North Macedonia on Tuesday.

For the first-ever men's meeting between the two nations, Bellamy made four changes from their previous fixture in November - a 4-1 win against Iceland that took his unbeaten start to a record-extending six games.

Karl Darlow got the nod over Danny Ward in goal and Roberts, Sorba Thomas and David Brooks also returned to the starting line-up after Wales had topped their Nations League group.

Kazakhstan, at 110th in the FIFA standings, arrived a whopping 81 places below Wales but with a proud record against British teams having beaten Scotland in 2019 and Northern Ireland twice in Euro 2024 qualifying.

Wales started slowly with several misplaced passes and poor touches before taking a ninth-minute lead.

A corner routine broke down but swift pressing from Liam Cullen and Davies saw the ball break to James, and his shot deflected off Aleksandr Marochkin to wrongfoot Alexandr Zarutskiy in the visitors' goal.

It was James' eighth international goal and the Leeds winger was the main source of Welsh attacking danger as events unfolded.

James went down under a Nuraly Alip challenge when howls for a penalty were ignored, but Lithuanian referee Donatas Rumsas would soon be pointing to the spot.

Islam Chesnokov's 32nd-minute cross struck Roberts from close proximity, but the full-back's arm was away from his body and there was always likely to be one outcome despite a lengthy VAR check.

Tagybergen's kick trickled over the line in slow motion after striking Darlow, Kazakhstan's first goal in seven competitive matches stretching back to November 2023.

Roberts was central to the next talking point after being felled by Maxim Samorodov, with the full-back caught on the back of the calf.

Rumsas was sent to the pitchside monitor for another VAR check and after inspection decided that a yellow card, and not red, was enough punishment for Samorodov.

Two minutes after the re-start Thomas won a corner that he drilled to the far post, and met by Davies with a bullet header for only his third goal in 93 appearances.

Cullen fired over after good work by Brooks and substitute Jordan James was denied by Zarutskiy's sprawling save as Wales ramped up the pressure.

But Wales had to wait until the 90th minute for nerves to be calmed completely.

Jordan James sprayed a delicious pass to Thomas and his trickery allowed him to deliver a cross that Matondo gleefully dispatched.

Analysis: A win is a win... job done

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Sky Sports News senior reporter Geraint Hughes:

What have we learned from Wales' first World Cup Qualifier?

After six successful Nations League matches last autumn, this just proved that when the stakes are high or even higher, football matches can be a tough nut to master. Heard that phrase "there's no easy game in international football?"

Wales' 3-1 victory, if you look at it in result-form only, looks comfortable and indeed Wales were by far the superior side. However at times inside the stadium, it felt that Wales perhaps were just having a night where things weren't quite happening. The odd loose pass, the flick that didn't come off, the run of the ball inadvertently going Kazakhstan's way, a penalty against you.

Game 7 under Bellamy and still unbeaten, though. Prior to the match, he had urged that 'patience' at times might be required not just against Kazakhstan, but against all their Group J opponents. That patience was employed. And in doing so perhaps that is a reason why Wales ran out comfortable 3-1 winners rather than chasing a game that ends up in a frustrating 1-all draw.

Why Wales perhaps weren't as slick as they can be? They played and tested Kazakhstan's mental resolve as their tactics were not those of a side designed to press and push for goals, they wanted to wait for Welsh mistakes and perhaps even the counter-attack.

Led by Ben Davies the mantra was possession, deny Kazakhstan the ball, don't push the ball forward at speed just for the sake of it. Play it about, play it between the back four endlessly if need be to draw Kazakhstan in because every time the visitors lost the ball all 10 outfield players retreated deep into their own half.

So it may not have at times looked pretty, but Wales didn't allow Kazakhstan any opportunity to counter with any great threat - I can't remember one time that Kazakhstan got in behind Wales.

Once Wales got the break early in the second half to go 2-1 up Wales slowed the play down and the amount of passes - one touch and two touch - going back and forth between Ben Davies, Joe Rodon, Neco Williams and Josh Sheehan felt like the stats team might run out of numbers in trying to add those passes up. Wales effectively said to Kazakhstan 'come and get it' and they didn't quite know what to do.

When needed Wales rapidly increased the tempo - the closing down, intensity as demanded by Bellamy. Perhaps not as slick a performance as many coming to the Cardiff City Stadium for their Saturday night entertainment were chatting about in the pubs before kick-off, but the bigger picture here for Wales is to qualify for a World Cup.

Building up the points in Group J may well have a huge psychological effect on Belgium. They don't play their opening World Cup qualifier until June.

If Wales can back up this result away at North Macedonia, Belgium are already well behind the curve without having kicked a ball in anger. Just putting that out there...

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