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"They want to qualify for the World Cup. I told them it cannot happen but things are moving at such a pace in their country they believe everything is possible."It is almost beyond belief to reveal which of England's World Cup qualifying opponents this statement refers to.No, not Croatia. Not even Ukraine but Kazakhstan. The team ranked 120th in the world, that is a place above Namibia but below Kuwait.This is a national side that has been in existence for 16 years, who won a paltry single point in the last round of World Cup qualifying.Undeterred, Kazakhstan have set their sights on the ultimate prize of reaching South Africa in 2010 and that is what 49-year-old Dutchman Arno Pijpers believes was the principal reason behind his sacking as coach in September."I think that is what the leadership of the football federation is thinking at the moment, I really do," Pijpers told BBC Sport."It is not going to happen, absolutely no way. I told them this, that in a group with Croatia, England, Ukraine and Belarus, it is impossible but they will not listen."After leading Kazakhstan's rapidly improving football team for two-and-a-half years, Pijpers became the scapegoat for the grandiose football ambitions of the world's ninth biggest country.Partly because of the vast oil and gas fields, Kazakhstan has been growing at a quicker rate than Russia since 2000 and countries like China and the United States are falling over themselves to buy a share of its natural resources.Despite having a population of just over 15m, Kazakhstan covers an area of land greater than the size of western Europe and aspires to become one of the world's top oil exporters in the next 10 to 15 years.In tandem with economic development, the Kazakh football chiefs want to see a similarly rapid improvement in their team's fortunes.Ten points in Euro 2008 qualifying, including a fine 2-1 home victory against Serbia and draws at home and away with Belgium, were quickly undone by World Cup qualifying defeats against Croatia and Ukraine in September.That left Kazakh Football Federation secretary general Sayan Khamitzhanov fuming: "How long must we endure it? We are ashamed of the results." And as a result, one-time national hero Pijpers was unceremoniously fired.They were strong words but Pijpers was neither surprised nor disappointed to find himself out of favour with the Kazakhstan federation and out of work."In Kazakhstan, the whole society is moving very, very fast," said Pijpers."They have oil and gas and there is a very big income at the moment. The problem is that they expect the country to be like England in 10 years or so and they expect the football to be the same as England as well."I made some big steps forward with Kazakhstan after taking over, we were going along great with some encouraging displays in the last qualifying tournament. "If you make steps forward with the team, you need also to make steps forward with the things that surround the team but it was too difficult for them."In the end, I think I paid for how successful I was for two years."---Whatever their expectations, Pijpers' employers can have few complaints about how the former Estonia coach moulded and developed a team during his time in the former Soviet Republic.But he says the men running Kazakh football are too blinkered to think about planning for the future.They look at their neighbours Russia and how Pijpers' fellow Dutch coach Guus Hiddink led them to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 and they want success now."I am a very realistic coach and I told them it would take time, much more time, but they did not listen," claimed Pijpers."In Holland, it took 20 or 30 years to build up their football before they were at that level. In Kazakhstan they want to do it in a couple of years and it's impossible."They look at Russia and see their success and want it, they even say as much."But I told them that in Russia they have established clubs like Spartak Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg and one player from Zenit has the same salary as all the Kazakhstan players, so it's absolutely not realistic."In the Netherlands, success on the football pitch has been based on the foundation of developing young players and their coaching techniques have been imitated all around the globe.Pijpers urged the Kazakh footballing hierarchy to install a similar system but his pleas fell on deaf ears."They are not putting money into the next generation of footballers. I tried to do things with development but they wouldn't have anything to do with it, they weren't interested," he added."They want success and if you tell them that to have success you need to develop for 10, 15 years, then they are not interested anymore."They want success after one-and-a-half days, that's what they want."It seems to me that maybe I was just asking too much of them."---There is no doubt that in Kazakhstan, one of the most rapidly developing countries on earth, the funds exist to build an infrastructure that will help them to produce some top-class footballers of the future.The question is, do the country's federation chiefs have the inclination and patience to make it happen?
There chances of qualifying are slim to say the least....but ah eh go mind seeing Borat running dey midfield in South Africa 2010...
Very excite, very excite!!
