Kazakhstan ease to Poland win

The tactics of new coach Bernd Stork helped Kazakhstan to an emphatic 3-0 Group 4 win over Poland in Almaty in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Attacking formation
Stork, who took up his post four weeks ago, scrapped the previous system which used a sole frontman and replaced it with an attacking 4-3-3 formation. First-half goals from Tanat Nusserbayev and Yerzat Kenbaev put the home side in charge and the former finished the scoring late on. The result puts Kazakhstan level on six points with Poland, although neither team can qualify for the play-offs in October.

First-half strikes
Poland were taken by surprise as the hosts started in aggressive fashion, and soon found themselves behind. Kenbaev delivered a dangerous cross from the right which Nusserbayev converted with a diving header to make it 1-0 after eleven minutes. The latter returned the compliment after half an hour, slipping in Kenbaev who doubled the lead.

'Inspired'
The visitors were more purposeful after the break, with both Cezary Wilk and Dawid Jarka forcing good saves from keeper Andrei Shabanov. However, Poland could not get back into the match and Nusserbayev had the final word in the second minute of added time. "We were inspired by our coach's decision to play attacking football," Nusserbayev said. "Our hard work in training and the unity of the team were vital."