The Kazakhstan national team tied with its guest Faroe Islands, 2-2, in an exciting match in the fourth round of the European Nations League, held in the capital, Astana, on Tuesday.
The visitors took the lead twice with goals from Peter Knudsen and Geza David Toure in the 22nd and 63rd minutes, and the Kazakh national team equalized with goals from Sergei Mali and Artur Shushenachev in the 68th and 76th minutes.
The two teams completed the match with a numerical disadvantage after Martin Agnarsson, the Faroe Islands player, was sent off in the 65th minute, and Sergei Mali, the Kazakhstan player, in the 85th minute.
With this result, each team earned a point, raising the Faroe Islands’ score to 4 points from 4 draws, finishing runner-up in Group C in the third level against Slovakia (7 points).
The Faroe Islands team is ahead of third-placed Moldova on goal difference before facing Slovakia later on Tuesday.
As for the Kazakhstan team, it did not succeed in exploiting the ground and crowd factors, leaving it at the bottom of the standings with only two points in fourth place.
Czech Nikola Bartenkova qualified for the quarter-finals of the women's singles tournament at the China Open Tennis Championship, after defeating Austrian Senia Kraus in the round of sixteen.
Bartenkova succeeded in qualifying after defeating her Austrian opponent by 6/0, 4/6, 6/3.
The official website of the Women's Professional Players Association stated that just one year ago, Nikola Bartenkova was No. 517 in the women's rankings, and she was participating only in events held in Europe.
The association explained that the Czech player rose in the rankings to reach No. 34, and her career in the Chinese Championship witnessed her defeating world number two Aryna Sabalenka in the third round (round of 32), and she continued her progress today by defeating Senia Croas.
The association quoted Bartenkova as saying: “It was a wonderful year for me. I did not expect a year ago to play like this and be in this role. This is wonderful, but now I will focus on developing myself and my playing style because in every match things are equal.”
The 20-year-old Czech player added: “I am still young and need more experience, and this is my goal now.”
Bartenkova will meet in the quarter-finals with her compatriot and world number seven Karolina Muchova, on Thursday.
Veteran South Korean star, Son Heung-min, led his country to a 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan in a friendly match, held on Tuesday in the Korean city of Yongin.
Son (34 years old), the former English Tottenham star and currently playing for Los Angeles, scored the first goal for his country early, after only 6 minutes.
His teammate Oh Si Hyun added the second goal in the 60th minute.
The Associated Press reported that Son Heung-min became South Korea's all-time top scorer with 59 goals.
She added that Son scored his goal with a free kick, surpassing the previous record, set by Cha Bum-kwon, who scored 58 goals before retiring from international football after the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Son is also considered to have played the most for his country's national team, with 151 international matches since the beginning of his international career in 2010, during which he participated in 4 editions of the World Cup.
Son Heung-min joined his current American team in 2025, after 10 years he spent in the English Tottenham Hotspur shirt.
Thus, the South Korean national team concludes its camp this month, where it played 3 more matches, beating Ecuador 3-0, losing 1-4 to Uruguay, and drawing without goals with Venezuela.
On the other hand, the Uzbek national team suffered one loss after winning two friendlies over Iran, 3-1, and Syria, 4-1.
The two teams are preparing to participate in the 2027 Asian Nations Cup, which will be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period from January 7 to February 5.
The South Korean national team will play in the fifth group, which also includes the UAE, Vietnam and Yemen, while the Uzbek national team will compete with Bahrain, Jordan and North Korea in the second group.
