England should be too much for Kazakhs

ALMATY (Reuters) - England have been hit by a spate of injuries to senior players but should still be too strong for Kazakhstan in their World Cup Group Six qualifier on Saturday.

England left on the nine-hour flight to the Kazakh capital on Wednesday without first-choice goalkeeper David James, centre back Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Michael Carrick.

A number of others, including wingers Aaron Lennon, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stewart Downing, and defender Phil Jagielka, were also missing because of injuries.

Manager Fabio Capello though, still has plenty of options as group leaders England bid for a sixth successive qualifying victory against a side who are second from bottom in the standings.

Kazakhstan have one win from their five matches -- a 3-0 victory against bottom-placed Andorra.

They have lost their last four qualifiers conceding 16 goals in the process, including a 5-1 home defeat to Belarus in April.

England face Andorra next week at Wembley and back-to-back victories will take them to within three points of qualification for next year's finals in South Africa.

FIRST DECISION

The first decision Capello has to make is who replaces James in goal. It will be either Robert Green of West Ham United, Scott Carson of West Bromwich Albion or former first choice Paul Robinson who finished the season in excellent form for Blackburn Rovers.