It required a mighty effort on my part not to illustrate this preview of England’s game in Kazakhstan with a picture of Borat, as so many other websites have done. Instead, I chose to use a photo of the Kazakhstan national team, because I think it’s disrespectful to suggest that Borat is the only thing worth knowing about the country. That’s wrong, and I refuse to deal in such stereotypes.
So, to the game… Well, meh. Even though it’s a proper, for-real World Cup qualifier, I can’t get too worked up about it, even if in Almaty they’re calling it the biggest game in Kazakhstan’s history. I guess the visit of Wayne Rooney and co. is a big deal, but the Kazakhs have no chance of qualifying, so I don’t see it myself.
I’m sure England will get the job done this afternoon, even though most of the players are knackered after a long domestic season. Fabio Capello doesn’t do tiredness, of course, which is one of the reason why he’s such a good manager -Â he doesn’t care for excuses, and the players know it.
The game should be much closer than the game at Wembley, however, which England won 5-1. In case you forgot:
And England in training for today’s game:
So, er, meh. Even if England lose in Almaty (very unlikely, as this Kazakhstan team is poor -Â they lost 5-1 to Belarus too), they’ll qualify easily for South Africa, and with the match being shown on Setanta, I’m not anywhere near the edge of my seat for this. I know I should be. Sorry.
Probable England starting line-up: Rob Green; Glen Johnson, John Terry (c), Matt Upson, Ashley Cole; Theo Walcott, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard; Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch
Prediction: Kazakhstan 0-2 England