Belarus Football - Week 4

April 10, 11, 12 & 13, 2020

Although the Tajikistan League season has now started, Belarus is still the main focus of attention ! Here are some thoughts on matches in Week 4......

Neman Grodno vs Belshina Bobruisk ( Friday 17.00 UK time )

Bottom of the table and having scored only once this season, Belshina are unlikely to fare any better against Neman Grodno, who have so far looked defensively well organised.  Neman comfortably won their only home match ( against Vitebsk ) and should win again, although there are unlikely to be many goals or much excitement. 1-0

Result 1-1 : A pretty poor match. Neman looked on course for the predictable 1-0 win until mid-way through the second half Kovel was left free in the six-yard box to turn in a cross for the equaliser.  Belshina held on to take their first point of the season

 

FK Slutsk vs FK Vitebsk  ( Saturday 12.00 UK time )

With both sides clocking up two wins and a defeat so far, a close match is in prospect. Vitebsk were soundly beaten at Neman Grodno in their only away match to-date. Riding on their new found wave of popularity, Slutsk should make the most of home advantage after their impressive 3-2 win at Isloch last week. 2-0

Result 1-1 : Another dire match. After an uneventful first 30 minutes, Moldovan international Nicolaescu wriggled past some lame defending to shoot past the Slutsk keeper to give the visitors the lead. Burkina Faso international Koanda was left alone 6 yards out to slide in a free-kick after around 60 minutes. Neither team looked like scoring a winner.

 

Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino vs Energetik BGU Minsk  ( Saturday 14.00 UK time )

Energetik BGU have the only 100% record but face a potentially tough time at Torpedo who have looked defensively sound if not very creative. However, with Uzbek youngster Jarusbek Yakhsiboev impressing so far, BGU should create enough chances on the counter-attack to win. 0-1

Result 2-0 : Energetik BGU lost their 100% record as they struggled to breakdown a tough, organised Torpedo side, who won most of the 50/50 tackles and were generally too physically for the young BGU side.

FK Gorodeya vs Dinamo Minsk ( Saturday 16.00 UK time )

Despite winning at Belshina last week, Gorodeya looked poor and Dinamo, having regained some confidence with their impressive win against Torpedo, should have too much pace, skill and guile to ease to victory here. 0-2

Result 1-0 : Dinamo were incredibly bad in losing to a very limited Gorodeya side, who scored an early penalty and then defended for the rest of the game. They were helped by a really, really stupid second yellow card for Brazilian Danilo with 25 minutes to go. Dinamo were unable to string three passes together and didn’t deserve anything from this game.

 

FK Minsk vs BATE Borisov ( Sunday 13.00 UK time )

The hardest tie of the week-end to predict. After looking good in the first two weeks of the season, FK Minsk were well beaten in losing their 100% record at BGU last week.  BATE finally got their first points of the season with a narrow home win, but were made to work hard by Rukh Brest. However, on Wednesday they slipped to another defeat at Slavia Mozyr, this time in the first leg of the Cup Semi-Finals, so that they have now lost all three of their away matches since the league season started. If FK show the same form they displayed when beating Dinamo Minsk, a fourth consecutive away loss for BATE is possible. 2-1 to FK Minsk ?

Result 0-3 : BATE eased to a comfortable victory and should have won by more. FK Minsk’s early promise seems already a distant memory. BATE starting to look like Championship contenders...

FK Smolevichi STI vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( Sunday 15.00 UK time )

Smolevichi never looked like scoring against 10 men Vitebsk so should struggle against a talented but under achieving Shakhtyor side who were tipped by some experts to challenge for the league title this year. Despite only scoring in one match so far, Shakhtyor should make amends here. 0-2

Result : 0-0 : Zzzzz....... Gosh this was dull ! Another game in which Shakhtyor dominated and failed to score, and they rarely looked like doing so. Including the Cup, that’s now just one game in five that they have scored. 

Dinamo Brest vs FK Isloch Minsk ( Sunday 17.00 UK time )

An intriguing match-up with Champions Dinamo smarting after their surprise home defeat to Slavia Mozyr, and Isloch losing their 100% record at home to Slutsk on Sunday. However, Dinamo bounced back with a 2-0 mid-week Cup win over Shakhtyor. With both teams showing defensive frailties there could be a few goals. 3-1

Result : 3-1 : The best game of the weekend, maybe because there was a reasonable sized crowd ? A snap shot from edge of the area gave Isloch a surprise lead just before half-time, but Dinamo equalised in first half injury time. Dinamo re-established their Championship credentials but were slightly flattered by the final score-line

 

FK Slavia Mozyr vs Rukh Brest ( Monday 15.30 UK time )

Despite the fixture list being unkind to them, Rukh have looked the most promising of the newly promoted teams and have played well against Dinamo Minsk, BATE Borisov and Energetik BGU. They now go to a Slavia team that has caused two of the big surprises of the league season so far with wins over BATE and Dinamo Brest. Slavia followed these by also deservedly beating BATE in the first leg of the Cup Semi-Final on Wednesday. Expect their high tempo pressure tactics to also be successful against a more defensive outfit. 2-1

Result : 0-0 : Not such a bad game for 0-0. Rukh again show their defensive solidity, and even have two good chances to win the game after being reduced to 10 men mid-way through the second half. Slavia huffed and puffed to little avail

Summary :

Neman Grodno 1-1 Belshina Bobruisk  ( att : 253 )
FK Slutsk 1-1 FK Vitebsk  ( att : 145 )
Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 2-0 Energetik BGU Minsk ( att : 287 ) 
FK Gorodeya 1-0 Dinamo Minsk ( att : 530 )  
FK Minsk 0-3 BATE Borisov ( att : 474 )
FK Smolevichi STI 0-0 Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( att : 102 )
Dinamo Brest 3-1 FK Isloch Minsk ( att : 1,169 )
FK Slavia Mozyr 0-0 Rukh Brest ( att : 715 )

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hol35bkLy58

With games now being freely shown on the Belarus FA YouTube Channel (  https://www.youtube.com/user/abffvideo/videos ) it was perhaps unfortunate that so many of the games were turgid. Perhaps the lack of spectators and therefore atmosphere contributed to the uninspiring play ? However, with nothing else to watch, those who watched the matches on-line are still likely to be back next weekend !