Belarus Football – Week 6

April 24, 25 & 26, 2020

Lockdown football continues with week 6 from Belarus. Last week provided plenty of talking points, with just 13 goals, 6 penalties, bizarre red cards and goal-keeping mistakes in amongst some cautious and often poor quality play. The so-called big teams ( BATE, Dinamo Brest, Dinamo Minsk & Shakhtyor ) continue to perform poorly, making the league very unpredictable  However, with no other distractions, I’ll be watching and hoping for more entertainment this week !

FK Smolevichy STI  vs Dinamo Minsk ( Friday 16.00 UK time )

Despite being second from bottom without a win, Smolevichy haven’t looked too out of place at this level and have been hard to breakdown. A lack of goal threat has been their main issue. On the other hand, Dinamo have recently looked impressive at home, and shocking away. As a result they have sacked their manager after just 5 games into the season and already appointed a replacement. Expect an instance impact. 0-2 

Result : 1-3. Dinamo Minsk benefitted from the new-manager bounce with a comfortable win. Dinamo took an early lead with a simple finish from 6 yards, and a penalty extended their lead for a 2-0 lead at half-time. The highlight of the match occurred early in the second half with a cat briefly on the pitch. Dinamo extended their lead with 20 minutes to go, but there was a clear handball by Shikavka, not spotted by the officials, before he rolled in his second goal of the match and fourth of the season. Most defenders had stopped. Smolevechi scored a late consolation thanks to a headed own-goal from a seemingly harmless cross.

 

Neman Grodno vs Energetik BGU Minsk ( Friday 18.00 UK time )

Grodno haven’t looked like a side that deserves to be third from bottom, and if they can show the form they displayed in beating high-flying Vitebsk they will soon be moving up the table. After a flying start, Energetik have lost their last two, and looked awful against Gorodeya. This could go either way. 1-1 ?

Result : 3-0. Grodno left it late but won comfortably in the end. It was pretty tedious until the 66^th minute with Energetik having had a slight edge, when a neat lob gave Grodno the lead. After that it was one-way traffic with Zabelin scoring twice, and the winning margin could have been higher. BGU lose for the third week running.

 

FK Slavia Mozyr vs FK Minsk ( Saturday at 13.00 UK time )

Slavia have wins against BATE and Dinamo Brest under their belt, and should be to good for FK Minsk, who have lost their last 3 matches and have conceded the most goals so far this season. 2-0.

Result : 1-3. An entertaining, open match with both sides creating early chances. FK Minsk took the lead on 30 minutes when a long range shot was pushed onto post and the rebound was turned into the empty net. Almost immediately at the start of the second half, a through ball put Yarotski clear and good finish made it 0-2. The match continued to ebb and flow and Slavia got back into the game with 12 minutes left with a fine on the run long range left footed shot into the bottom corner. However, three minutes later Minsk had a 2 on 1 break and a delicate chip over the keeper sealed the 1-3 victory

 

FK Gorodeya vs BATE Borisov ( Saturday at 15.00 UK time )

Gorodeya have somehow won three consecutive matches 1-0 despite looking really poor. BATE are slowly getting better, and class show tell here although its unlikely to be much of a spectacle. 0-1

Result : 0-2. Gorodeya’s all-out defence held BATE for over 70 minutes. The visitors had a goal disallowed for offside after 20 minutes but thereafter lacked the skill, guile and off the ball movement to break down the defence. With 73 minutes on the clock, BATE brought Dragun off the bench and within seconds he had opened the scoring with a smart volley. BATE increased their lead with a further goal in injury time on the break with a long lob over the out of position keeper. 

Dinamo Brest vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( Saturday at 17.00 UK time )

Underperforming Shakhtyor are unlikely to turn the corner against the Champions, and have already lost 0-2 in Brest in the Belarus Cup this season. Another 2-0 win for Dinamo.

Result : 0-2. Brest’s miserable defence of their title continues as Shakhtyor finally showed their true form. Another entertaining and open match, Shakhtyor took the lead midway through the first half via an own goal and doubled their lead midway through the second half. Brest had plenty of chances, hit the woodwork twice and could have had a penalty or two with last week’s refereeing.

FK Slutsk vs Belshina Bobruisk ( Sunday at noon UK time )

A match between top versus bottom so a banker home win. Slutsk are the league’s top scorers but only 4 sides have conceded more. 3-1

Result : 3-2. In an entertaining match, Slutsk remain top but made hard work of overcoming winless Belshina, who are already facing relegation. The home side raced into an early 2-0 lead, with two tap ins after counter attacks but just before half-time an attempted clearance hit Kovel on the chest for a goal back and shortly after half-time some non-existent marking allowed a free header for the equalizer. Belshina looked the likely winners until a red card to Belshina for a second yellow with 6 minutes to go allowed Slutsk back into the match, and Nigerian Umar was left unmarked for a free-header his second goal of the game and to win the match.

Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino vs Rukh Brest ( Sunday at 14.00 UK time )

Torpedo have been another of the surprise packages so far and Rukh have exceeded expectation to be solidly in mid-table. The 10 matches involving these two sides have only featured 10 goals. It will be tight but expect Torpedo to edge it. 1-0

Result : 0-0. One for the purists ? Torpedo rarely threatened and when they did their finishing was woeful. Rukh were might brighter and whilst most of their finishing was poor, they did at least force Bushma in the Torpedo goal into making several decent saves, and had one shot cleared off the line. Torpedo slip to third.

 

FK Isloch Minsk vs FK Vitebsk ( Sunday 16.00 UK time )

Fifth versus Third. This could be the best match to watch this weekend, but should be close. 1-1 ?

Result : 2-0 . A regulation home win, with Yansane scoring one and being fouled for the penalty ( the only one of the weekend ). Isloch move to second.

Summary :

FK Smolevichy STI 1-3 Dinamo Minsk ( att :  173 )
Neman Grodno 3-0 Energetik BGU Minsk    ( att : 265 )
FK Slavia Mozyr 1-3 FK Minsk ( att : 685 )
FK Gorodeya 0-2 BATE Borisov ( att : 284 )
Dinamo Brest 0-2 Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( att : 1,496 )
FK Slutsk 3-2 Belshina Bobruisk ( att : 492 )
Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 0-0 Rukh Brest ( att : 293 )
FK Isloch Minsk 2-0 FK Vitebsk ( att : 273 )

 Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AQ9ZN5F4xw

Comment :

After the snooze-fest of week 5, with 22 goals scored this week despite only one penalty, it almost appears as if the Belarus FA told teams to stop parking the bus ! Gorodeya, if they got the memo, would obviously have ignored it, and Torpedo and Rukh tried hard but their forwards let them down.

Some referees were even seen to be playing advantage and not awarding free-kicks every time a player went to the floor. There were only two red cards, both for second yellows, one of which was in the 93rd minute so didn't affect the result of the game.

Long may it continue !

Next up are the Cup Semi-Final second legs on Wednesday 29^th :

16.00 Shakhtyor Soligorsk vs Dinamo Brest ( 0-2 )

18.00 BATE Borisov vs Slavia Mozyr ( 0-1 ) 

First leg scores in brackets