Kazaks' coach: Walcott is the new Messi

Kazakhstan rate Theo Walcott as highly as Lionel Messi so they plan to starve England's winger into submission by cutting off every pass aimed at him.

Arsenal star Walcott destroyed Croatia with an unforgettable hat-trick last month, while his runs with the ball create huge problems for defenders in the Premier League every week.

Kazakhstan's caretaker coach Bernd Storck plans to surround Walcott with players intercepting possession and also has told his men to pay particular attention to Wayne Rooney, a player Storck describes as "England's playmaker".

Stock said: "I've seen a lot of games in my career and was at the Croatia game. What I saw of Walcott there was unbelievable.

"He's like Messi was at that age a very fine player. Walcott was the youngest player to play in England's national team and he is still a player for the future. He's very fast, with good technique and scores goals. When he gets chances, he scores. For England, the future is very good with him.

"But it's not only a game against Walcott. England need players to play the ball to him so I have asked my players to stop England passing the ball to Walcott in the first place.

"We will look at Rooney especially. He has very good eyes and is a playmaker making good passes when he plays deep which he showed in the last game against Croatia."

Kazakhstan, ranked a lowly 131st in the world, only joined FIFA 14 years ago and, after switching from Asia to UEFA, won their first competitive European game last year 2-1 at home against Serbia.

But Storck insisted his side would not make amends for their technical deficiences by employing the kicking tactics used by other European minnows such as Andorra.

"It's not good coaching to say 'you must hit him and play hard.' They are football players and we want to play football," said Storck. "We want to stop England's players the normal way, within the rules."