Kieffer Moore’s finish proved to be the decisive blow. A strike which would mark the occasion of his 50th cap perfectly after Swansea City’s Liam Cullen’s header had been saved by home goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov.
Wales entered the Group J contest ranked 83 places higher than Kazakhstan in the Fifa world rankings, whose position of 114th casts them among the minnows of European football.
But Kazakhstan caused plenty of problems and their energetic second-half performance – when they hit the crossbar twice – could be argued merited a point.
Wales dominated possession and had early half-chances for Tottenham Hotspur’s Brennan Johnson and Bolton Wanderers midfielder Josh Sheehan as forward Galymzhan Kenzhebek fired straight at Karl Darlow at the other end.
Wales would, though, strike from their very next attack. Cullen meeting Harry Wilson’s free-kick to force a save from Anarbekov, with Moore slotting the rebound home from seven yards.
Bellamy’s side would ride their luck with Kenzhebek curling a shot inches wide of the far post before the same player went even closer after Wales made a sloppy start to the second half. A 25-yard effort touched on to the crossbar by a sprawling Darlow.
The Leeds goalkeeper was required again to make a fine stop from Maksim Samorodov, before Wilson and substitute Jordan James would be foiled by Anarbekov in the closing stages.
But in a nail-biting finish, Wales secured the three points after substitute Serikzhan Muzhikov’s free-kick struck the crossbar from the game’s last action, taking them above North Macedonia at the top of the group.
“It was hard work, really hard work,” said the Wales boss following the win.
“We knew beforehand, Kazakhstan is a very hard place to come, it has been for British national teams and club sides in recent years. You could see why today.
“It wasn’t as clean as we would have liked, we had to dig in.
“The players have that ability to dig in. But there is more, there is more to come from them – we are a better team than we showed consistently today. How we started was really good but then the rhythm wasn’t quite there.
“I am not thinking about Belgium yet, we have Canada to play first.
“I want to see a better intensity, lots of the habits that have made us the team we are. But we will take the win.”
[Lead image: Football Association of Wales]
