March 12, 13 & 14, 2021
After the appetisers of the Super Cup and Cup Quarter Final first legs, the Belarus season begins in earnest with Round 1 this weekend.
It has been an eventful close season to say the least, starting with the sad liquidation of Gorodeya and the political machinations and shenanigans to prevent Krumkachy being promoted in their place. Eventually, Smorgon, who finished in 6th place in the Pershaya liga were promoted, although Krumkachy’s appeal to UEFA is still to be heard.
Pershaya liga champions Sputnik were rumoured to be bankrupt and going out of business after their main backer pulled the plug, but they were saved after a rescue package was put together by their local council, and the promise of assistance from Shakhtyor in loaning some fringe/youth players.
Then there was the whole drama surrounding Dinamo Brest, and the exodus of nearly all their first team squad, many of whom moved to Rukh, who have plans to move to the town of Pruzhany, 80 km from Brest. All ties between Dinamo and Rukh have been severed, with owner Alexsandr Zaytsev throwing his weight behind Rukh. The Brest council have stepped in to take ownership of Dinamo and a new squad has been put together, including a number of players who were then surplus to requirements at Rukh ! Perhaps crucially for Dinamo, coach Sergey Kovalchuk remained at the club.
The ABFF got further in the act by announcing salary caps for players, total squads and coaches, with stipulations that the highest salary level can only be given to current internationals. Caps on bonus payments for winning league, cup and European matches were also set, but per game these are much higher than the monthly salaries ! Existing contracts are not affected by this, which might explain the flurry of transfer market activity before the announcement was made in January !
The ABFF also ruled that in order to encourage the development of Belarus players, six Belarus players need to be on the pitch at all times, one of whom must have been born in 2000 or after. Hopefully this won’t lead to a repeat of situations in Estonia and Romania with teenagers starting the match and being substituted before they had even touched the ball. One poor lad in Estonia was substituted 10 seconds after kick-off to allow a more senior player to take his place ! Points deduction could also be imposed for any breaches…………
The ABFF announced that clubs were not permitted to use any funds from state authorities for pre-season overseas training camps. BATE, Shakhtyor and Torpedo were eventually permitted to go to warm-weather training ( ideal for the freezing conditions last weekend’s cup matches were played in ! ) by claiming the costs were covered from money from UEFA for their participation in Europe in the coming season, whilst privately owned Rukh also went abroad anyway.
Then we have the proposed boycott of matches by several of the organised fan groups in protest against the Government, which together with on-going Covid fears threatens to keepe crowd numbers low.
Oh, and Neman were refused a license to play in the league, but have appealed, and played their cup tie at the weekend. The expectation appears to be they will get a slap on the wrist and a nominal fine as the ABFF try to look like they are taking action against anyone accused of being anti-Government,…..
In amongst all of this has been the transfer merry-go-round, with several sides changing virtually entire squads to be unrecognisable from last season, and making early season prediction a hazard until it becomes clearly who the gems and who the duds are, or for side to bed-down and get used to playing with each other. That said, it doesn’t stop Fatbear from making his predictions for Round 1 !
FK Isloch Minsk vs FK Slavia Mozyr ( Friday at 14.30 UK time )
After a slow start, Isloch looked pretty decent in the second half at FK Minsk and will perhaps feel that they should have won the cup-tie. Ukrainian midfielder Yurii Kozyrenko and Russian left-back Shamsiddin Shanbiev both had promising debuts but the defence looked uncertain at times.
Slavia have had a relatively quiet winter, looking as if they have kept the majority of last season’s squad. The iconic Gleb Shevchenko has joined Shakhtyor, but Slavia have signed defender Dmitriy Ignatenko from Gorodeya and Leo Njengo has experience of the third level of football in Belgian. As well as retaining Dennis Tetteh and Francis Narh, perhaps Slavia’s best piece of business was being able to convert the loan of Russian striker Islam Tlupov to a permanent signing.
As both sides have defensive frailties this could
be an exciting game. 2-2
Result : 1-0. A deserved win for Isloch. After an uneventful but even first half, Isloch stepped up the pressure in the second half but left it late to take all three points. Slavia were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men with 30 minutes to play, Kovalev’s super through ball between the centre-backs put Kozyrenko clear but as he bore down on goal Nedashkovskiy put his hands on the winger’s arm and shoulder just outside the area, and Kozyrenko went to ground in an incident very similar to the red card to Neman last weekend. However, the referee waved play on.
Myakish and Komarovskiy then missed good chances for Isloch before they should have opened the scoring in the 82nd minutes. A hopeful long ball was launched towards the Slavia area and with Nedashkovskiy and keeper Baronovski getting in each other’s way, Yusov had an open goal, but he could only steer the ball just wide of the post for an incredible miss.
However, Isloch were not to be denied, and with a minute to play a long cross was nodded back by Anufriev to Kirill Gluschenko a couple of yards outside the Slavia area. With no-one attempting to close him down, the young Russian had time to control on his chest, take a step forward and send a low shot inside the keeper’s left hand post for the winner.
Slavia looked the better side for periods of the match, but rarely threatened. A shot from Sliusar into the side netting being their best chance.
Energetik BGU Minsk vs FK Smorgon ( Saturday at 11.00 UK time )
It’s hard to know what to expect from Energetik, having lost players of the calibre of Nusko and Umarov to BATE. However, they have just signed Kazakh Vladislav Vasiliev, who scored 8 times for Rukh last season, and are rumoured to be signing Uzbek Ubaydullaev, ( who scored from the bench for Shakhtyor last weekend ), on a season long loan. There may well be more arrivals before kick-off !
Smorgon are very much an unknown quantity and regardless of how they got to be promoted, are most people’s favourites to go straight back down. However, their signings include the wily old fox Leonid Kovel from Belshina, Yan Senkevich from Gorodeya, Leonid Khankevich from Smolevichy and Arseniy Bondarenko who was on loan from Torpedo to Gomel last season, so they may pull off a surprise or two. It’s unlikely to be this weekend though. 2-0
Result : 3-0. The score line doesn't do justice to be performance by Smorgon and flattered Energetik. The visitors were not overawed and were the better side for a large part of the second half as they searched for an equaliser. However, despite all their tidy play they lacked a cutting edge up front.
Energetik’s opening goal after 30 minutes had a touch of fortune to it, Vladislav Vasiljev’s left footed in-swinging corner was missed by everyone, and Artem Shkurdyuk nipped ahead of the dozing Bondarenko to bundle the ball over the line at the back post.
Energetik should have doubled the lead 2 minutes into the second half, but after Moussakhanian’s cushioned header found Yudchits free near the penalty spot, his poor shot was easily held by the diving Smorgon keeper. A couple of minutes later Kovel got into a good position in the Energetik area but inexplicably decided to try and pass rather than get a shot in, and the chance was gone. Senkevich forced Energetik keeper Makavchik to make a finger tipped save, then Camara’s dangerous low crossed was cleared at the expense of a corner. Makavchik completely missed the resulting kick, but ex-Krumkachy man Intsoen could only shoot harmlessly wide.
Energetik put the game out of Smorgon’s reach 12 minutes from time, Vladislav Vasiljev’s floated free-kick was met by Artem Vasiljev 8 yards out and his header found the top corner. The salt was rubbed into Smorgon’s wound 5 minutes from time, when Sokol’s thunderous shot was tipped onto the bar, but rebounded straight to substitute Vigovskij to steer into the empty net
Rukh Brest vs FK Gomel ( Saturday at 13.00 UK time )
Newly promoted Gomel are reported to be well-backed financially, and are tipped by many experts to not be amongst the relegation candidates. They achieved a bit of a coup by signing last season’s Pershaya liga top scorer, Andrey Solovei, from cross city rival’s Lokomotiv. He found the net 26 times. With left winger Vadim Podudey signing from Kazakh side Zhetysu, Gomel shouldn’t struggle for goals. Ex-Isloch centre-back Igor Kuzmenok will miss the start of the season though through injury.
At lot is expected of last season’s entertainers Rukh. Having retained quality players such as Grechikho, Kontsevoy, Nikiforenko, Saovskiy and William, the addition of experienced players from Dinamo such as Kiki, Savitski, Yuzepchuk, Tweh, Bakaj and of course Big Denis Laptev could make them title contenders. Mercurial Senegalese forward Diallo is apparently still at Rukh, although he might well end-up back at Dinamo ! Swedish midfielder Karl Soderstrom is apparently a free-kick expert and had a trial with Brentford.
The one down side for Rukh may be the signing of error-prone keeper Pavel Pavlychenko, although to be fair, he did make his debut for the Belarus national side in November so he must be highly thought of in some places ! 3-1
Result : 1-1. A hugely impressive return to the top flight for Gomel who will feel hard done by not to have won this match. After outplaying the highly fancied home side for 60 minutes and missing a hatful of good chances, they conceded a poor goal to fall behind. Rukh though returned the favour to ensure the visitors didn’t go home empty handed. With Podudey and ex Slavia Moldovan Igor Kostrov at the heart of most of Gomel’s good moves, Rukh were made to look poor and could have been 4 or 5 behind by half-time. Kostrov hit the post with a free-kick and Levitskiy should have done better with the rebound.
On 20 minutes Levitskiy had a candidate for miss of the season, volleying over from 2 yards when a long throw fell at his feet. Podudey forced a fine diving save from Pavlychenko, Chikida shot just wide and Vaskov pushed his effort past the advancing keeper but wide of the post. A neat one touch passing movement put Solovei in space on the left-hand side of the Rukh area, but his shot was blocked by the legs of the Rukh stop-stopper. Rukh’s only response was a shot from Savitski which went a couple of feet wide.
Gomel missed another golden chance 15 minutes into the second half when Gomza’s pass gave Podudey a clear sight on goal, but he pulled his effort from 8 yards into the side netting. Such profligacy was punished a minute later when Laptev played in Kontsevoy down the left, and his tame shot went through the Gomel keeper and into the net for an undeserved lead. The keeper really should have saved it !
Gomel’s response was for Podudey to sent a curling shot straight at Pavlychenko, but they grabbed the deserved equaliser in the 76th minute. Grechikho was robbed of possession as Rukh tried to play out from the back, ex-Gorodeya playmaker Lazar Sajcic played in Solovei, and last season’s Pershaya liga top scorer coolly finished.
Rukh will be grateful for taking a point against a Gomel side who look likely to be capable of troubling the best sides in the Premier League. One positive for Rukh though was that they looked a much better team after David Tweh came on as a substitute.
Dinamo Minsk vs Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino ( Saturday at 14.45 UK time )
The match of the weekend, between two sides expected by many to be title contenders. Dinamo improved over the second half of last season, albeit playing a lot of anti-football and grinding out clean sheets. With the signing of Khatkevich from Isloch, probably the best keeper in the league last season, and international centre-back Nikita Naumov returning from Kazakhstan, Dinamo will be even harder to score against ! The signing of Jean Morel Poe from Neman will at least add a little extra creativity and fire power up front.
Like Dinamo, Torpedo don’t concede many and didn’t allow Arsenal any shot on target last weekend. Expect a tight, tense encounter. 0-0 !
Result : 3-0. Ultimately a convincing victory for Dinamo in a match played at FK Minsk’s stadium, but this didn’t look likely until the last 20 minutes. Dinamo commenced with what appeared to be a 3-6-1 formation, with coach Leonid Kuchuk living down to his defensive reputation, with midfielder Klimovich playing down the middle upfront, with forwards Bakhar, Shikavka, Khavashchinskiy and Lozhkin all on the bench. International keeper Khatkevich was also on the bench.
Dinamo started brightly with Ivorian Jean Morel Poe looking particularly dangerous, hitting the bar and forcing Bushma to make a fine flying save in the first 10 minutes. However, Torpedo weather the early storm and got to the break unscathed, although Poe put another chance just wide after being released by Klimovich’s intelligent pass. Torpedo even had a reasonable chance just before the break when centre-back Aussi headed over from a corner.
Dinamo broke the deadlock in the 53th minute, and almost inevitably the goal came from a set piece. Poe forced Bushma into another flying save, but Nikita Naumov rose the highest to head home from the resulting corner. Torpedo then had their best spell of the match and carved out a few chances to equalise, but Gabovda, Nikolaevich, Kirilenko and Antilevski were denied by either the Dinamo keeper or by being just off-target.
Dinamo made Torpedo rue these missed chances in the 72nd minute when Torpedo left-back Ustinov headed into his own goal under pressure from Davyskiba. There was a suggestion of a push in the back of the Torpedo defender, but the goal stood. Three minutes later the result was put beyond any doubt with a well-crafted goal. 19 year old Roman Davyskiba went on a wriggly run into the Torpedo area and flicked the ball to Kislyak, who drilled a low cross across the face of the goal for Bykov to run onto and hammer left-footed into the corner of the net. There was a very strong suspicion that Kislyak was offside, but again the goal stood.
Even if Dinamo were fortunate for two of the goals to stand, they firmly established their title credentials. Torpedo will play worse and win.
Shakhtyor Soligorsk vs FK Minsk ( Saturday at 17.45 UK time )
A repeat of the dramatic last day match when Shakhtyor clinched the league in added on time. It’s unlikely to be as exciting this time around.
Minsk started brightly against Isloch but faded and were hanging on for a draw at the end. Shakhtyor are yet to concede a goal in their 2 competitive games so far, and look to have too much potential for Minsk’s suspect defence. Gambian striker Darboe could have a big impact. 3-0
Result : 1-0. Champions Shakhtyor got off to a winning start but they were made to struggle by a determined rear guard action from Minsk. Despite having nearly 70% of the possession, Shakhtyor created very little. Minsk keeper Ignatovich put in a solid shift, making decent saves to keep out Diasamidze, Ivanovic, Kendysh, Darboe and Stasevich ( twice ).
Shakhtyor cranked up the pressure in the second half but the breakthrough rarely looked like coming. With just 7 minutes left on the clock, Albanian Valon Ahmedi, Shakhtyor’s best player on the night, delivered the perfect cross that even Darboe couldn’t miss from close range to break Minsk hearts.
The late red card to Minsk captain Ostroukh was unfortunate, as the trip on Darboe didn’t appear to be intentional, but the second yellow card was shown.
For Minsk the best moment came from a rasping shot from Muniru that slid agonisingly wide with the Shakhtyor keeper beaten. However, they should take encouragement from the type of resilient defensive performance rarely seen last season.
Sputnik Rechitsa vs Dinamo Brest ( Sunday at 12.00 UK time )
At one point recently it looked unlikely that Sputnik would be making their debut in the Premier League this season but they have survived. On the downside they have lost a couple of their better players from last season’s convincing Pershaya liga title winning squad, including the outstanding winger Valeri Potorocha, 14 goals last season, who could be lining-up against his former club today having signed for Dinamo. Denis Gruzhevskiy has moved to Torpedo. However, promising young keeper Alexsandr Svirskiy looks to have returned for a second season on loan from BATE, and the loose association with Shakhtyor has seen the arrivals of Croatian full-back Tim Vukmanic and lively French midfield Dinine Djouhary, who looked good when loaned to Gorodeya at the end of last season. Ivorian centre-forward Mikhael Yambe has signed from Latvian side Spartaks Jurmala, after scoring once in 12 appearance last season.
After the trauma of losing just about the entire first team squad, Dinamo appear to have at least been able to compile a squad that will be competitive, with a number of former Rukh players, including the highly rated keeper Stepanov. With the above mentioned Potorocha, Ukrainian Stanislav Bilenkyi and ex Sampdoria Slovak midfielder David Ivan they should be good for a few goals. 1-2
Result : 0-4. A convincing win for the new look Dinamo side which will give them encouragement for the forthcoming season. In these Covid times you could say they received a shot in the arm from Sputnik……
The match was played on an artificial pitch in Gomel, 35km from Rechitsa, but a decent sized crowd turned up, including around 25-30 soldiers in uniform and a similar number of Dinamo fans had made the 600km round trip.
Like Smorgon the day before, Sputnik looked neat and tidy in possession but light upfront. The floodgates only opened after a foolish red card, with Tim Vukmanic, on loan from Shakhtyor, needlessly wrestled Shestyuk to the ground for his second yellow with 25 minutes left to play. Vukmanic had earlier picked up his first yellow after being adjusted to have handled in the area when a shot hit him from a couple of feet away, and Sedko gave Dinamo the lead from the spot after 21 minutes.
Until being reduced to 10 men Sputnik were in the game, and nearly equalised after an hour but Fedyanin’s goalbound effort was blocked by one of his team-mates. Dinamo ruthlessly pressed home their advantage though, although they were helped by some hapless defending. Diving keeper Rudenok completely missed a corner and after new Brest centre-back Affi was unable to control the loose ball it fell for Bilenkyi to scuff into the net to double the lead. The fourth goal came after Sedko’s cross-shot was headed onto his own bar by left-back Litskevich, and with the keeper stranded, substitute Zhurnevich reacted alertly to head into the empty goal seconds after coming onto the pitch. In between these, Dinamo did score a nice goal, Shestyuk running onto a defence splitting through ball and finished well over the advancing keeper.
Neman Grodno vs FK Vitebsk ( Sunday at 14.00 UK time )
Assuming Neman’s licence appeal is successful they will be hoping to perform similarly to the first 60 minutes against Shakhtyor, where they were comfortably holding the champions until being undone by a red card. Their trademark defensive solidity was on show, but they will need to show more teeth up front.
Vitebsk looked good for 45 minutes against BATE before taking a battering in the second half. To their credit they managed to only concede once in that bombardment. 1-1
Result : 0-0. A tight encounter of few chances but Neman will feel they should have won this match after a couple of poor misses. It might have been very different had Pasevich not somehow missed from 6 yards in the 6th minute but the ball went wide of the post after he slide in unnoticed by the Vitebsk defence. On the stroke of half-time Zubovich headed a corner wide when it looked like he must score, whilst Matveenko cleared Gribovskiy’s free-kick off the line midway through the first half.
Neman struggled to break down Vitebsk in the second half, but nearly snatched the win with just over 5 minutes to play. Substitute Kouadio did well to turn and cross into the danger area where Zubovich headed downwards from 6 yards. However, keeper Gushchenko made a splendid reaction save, and then bravely dived on the loose ball as the boots flew in.
Vitebsk were limited mostly to counter attacks, their best chance came in the 73rd minutes when Rassadkin broke and played in Matveenko, but his first touch was poor, allowing a defender to crowd him out and block his shot.
Overall, not a great game to watch but the howling gale may have been a factor in this.
BATE Borisov vs FK Slutsk ( Sunday at 16.00 UK time )
Despite surviving the relegation play-offs, financially stricken Slutsk have been further weakened by the departures of regulars Kozlov, Serdyuk, Gafar, Koanda and Pankratov. They have at least been able to convert the loan of Russian forward Dmitriy Sasin to a permanent move, and have signed Salimov and Glebko from Belshina. Nigerian centre-forward Steven Alfred has arrived after an undistinguished spell at Armenian side Pyunik, but the remaining signings are mostly unknown quantities.
Slutsk are unlikely to be much of a match for a BATE side who look likely to confound the doom mongers, and they looked impressive in the second half against Vitebsk. 4-0
Result : 3-0. A routine win for BATE although there were some encouraging signs for Slutsk. BATE took an early lead, when Uzbek Umarov latched onto Karasev’s through ball to delightfully finish with the outside of his foot to send the ball into the opposite corner for a classy finish. Umarov was the game’s stand-out performer, and he nearly grabbed a second 10 minutes before half-time, again racing onto a through ball, but this time Slutsk keeper Kharitonov was able to block.
After threatening to be overwhelmed by BATE’s fast start, Slutsk grew in confidence and Nigerian forward Steven Alfred caught the eye in a promising debut. However, it was BATE who scored the second goal of the game. Filipovic’s long cross was met beyond the far post by Signevich, who headed back across goal to leave Milic with a simple header into the unguarded goal. 2-0 after 57 minutes.
Slutsk persevered but BATE added a third 6 minutes from time, Skavysh was left unmarked at the near post to head home Nekhaychik’s dangerous in-swinging free-kick.
Summary :