Azerbaijan look to avenge Kazakhstan defeat
Thursday, July 28, 2011
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With both teams locked on three points at the bottom of UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group A, Kazakhstan travel to Lankaran buoyed by their victory against Azerbaijan in June.
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The bottom sides in UEFA EURO 2012 Group A meet again in Lankaran, with Azerbaijan looking to avenge a 2-1 defeat in Astana that got Kazakhstan off the mark in the section on 3 June.
• Sergei Gridin scored twice on his international debut as Kazakhstan earned their first Group A points. Gridin tapped in Sergei Ostapenko's centre to give the hosts the lead 12 minutes after the break. Substitute Vugar Nadyrov levelled two minutes after coming off the bench, but Gridin's sublime finish midway through the second half sealed the win.
• It was Kazkakhstan's first win under Miroslav Beránek, who replaced Bernd Storck as national-team coach in early 2011.
• This will be the seventh game between the two former Soviet republics, who first met in a 28 April 2004 friendly game in Almaty, which Azerbaijan won 3-2. Kazakhstan avenged that defeat in a friendly in Shymkent on 9 March 2007, winning 1-0.
• The sides' only previous competitive meetings were in qualifying for UEFA EURO 2008, when they drew 1-1 in Baku on 6 September 2006 and 1-1 in Almaty on 6 June the following year.
• Azerbaijan's record in six games against Kazakhstan reads W1 D3 L2 (W0 D1 L0 in Azerbaijan).
