Wales open World Cup campaign with win

Wales beat Kazakhstan 3-1 on Saturday to start their bid to qualify for the 2026 World Cup with a win, while Erling Haaland was among the scorers as Norway swept to a 5-0 victory in Moldova.

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Wales are chasing a second straight appearance at the World Cup finals after they made it to the 2022 tournament in Qatar, and Craig Bellamy’s team saw off a dogged Kazakhstan side in Cardiff.

Wales went in front in the Group J encounter inside nine minutes with a deflected effort from the Leeds United winger Daniel James.

Kazakhstan, who are 110th in the Fifa rankings, drew level from the penalty spot just after the half-hour mark, Askhat Tagybergen converting following a handball by Connor Roberts.

Wales picked up where they left off in their impressive Uefa Nations League performances at the end of last year as they got the job done in the second half.

Captain Ben Davies restored the lead with a header shortly after the restart. Rabbi Matondo came off the bench to wrap up the win at the death.

“We spoke all week about getting off to a good start and that’s what we did tonight,’ James told the BBC.