Defender Sergey Maly has become the outright record holder for most appearances for the Kazakhstan national team. The Nations League match against the Faroe Islands was his 77th for the national team, according to the press service of the Kazakhstan Football Federation, as reported by infohub.kz.
Previously, the top spot belonged to Samat Smakov, who played 76 matches for Kazakhstan. Maly equaled his achievement in the match against Moldova, and his appearance against the Faroe Islands allowed the 36-year-old defender to solely top the list of record holders.
Maly made his debut for the national team on March 5, 2014, in a friendly against Lithuania that ended 1-1. Thus, the defender has been representing the national team for more than 12 years.
Another historic milestone was reached by Islambek Kuat. The match against the Faroe Islands was his 76th for the Kazakhstan national team. With this, he equaled Smakov and now shares second place with him.
Earlier, before the game, Kazakhstan head coach John van 't Schip stated that the team needed to bounce back after a home defeat to Moldova. After three rounds of the Nations League, Kazakhstan had one point and was in last place in Group C3.