Kazakhstan part ways with Pijpers

Kazakhstan have decided to sack coach Arno Pijpers, the country's FA's secretary general Sayan Khamitzhanov said yesterday. Khamitzhanov said that the country's poor performance in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign was the reason behind their...

Kazakhstan have decided to sack coach Arno Pijpers, the country's FA's secretary general Sayan Khamitzhanov said yesterday.

Khamitzhanov said that the country's poor performance in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign was the reason behind their decision to part ways with the Dutch coach.

"How long we should endure it?," Khamitzhanov was quoted as saying.

"We in the federation are ashamed of the existing situation and we all must apologise to the country's fans for it. We will start seeking a new coach today."

Kazakhstan opened their Group Six campaign with a 3-0 home win over Andorra but then suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Croatia (3-0) and Ukraine (3-1). The other teams in Kazakhstan's World Cup qualifying group are England and Belarus.

Dutch coach Pijpers took over Kazakhstan in January 2006. In qualifying for Euro 2008, Kazakhstan gained just 10 points from their 14 games.

Before accepting the offer made by the Kazakhstan FA, Pijpers had been one of the leading candidates to succeed Horst Heese as Malta coach but the Malta Football Association eventually handed the job to Dusan Fitzel, the current incumbent.

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