March, 26, 2021
Dinamo BSU Minsk 16-0 ABFF U19 ( tbc )
March 27, 2021
FK Vitebsk 1-8 Zorka BGU ( att : 100 )
Dinamo Brest 0-7 Dnepr Mogilev ( att : 70 )
March 28, 2021
Bobruichanka 0-4 FK Minsk ( att : 50 )
Region of Gomel 0-11 Neman Grodno ( att : 50 )
Some of the consequences of the decision to expand the Woman’s Premier League to 10 sides, combined with the break-up of a strong FK Minsk squad, and a number of the better Belarus players moving to play abroad became apparent this weak-end. As a result, there will be even more mis-matches than last season, and whilst there is some logic in giving a significant additional number of young players the opportunity to play at the highest level, in the short-run it reduces the quality of the league, and could do more harm than good to the development of those players. It probably won’t help attract spectators either.
Already it looks like Gomel, Vitebsk, Brest and ABFF U19 should be playing in a second division. The wins for Dinamo Minsk and Neman were embarrassing to watch, and the Zorka and Dnepr Mogilev victories were not much better. Only the Bobruichanka vs FK Minsk match had any element of competitiveness, and that was ruined by a ridiculous red card to the home side in the first half.
With the normal ABFF U19 squad moving virtually en-masse to become FK Minsk, a shadow squad was hastily put together to fulfil their fixture, with the side taking the field consisting of the Under 17 players plus one player from last year’s U19 team ( Anastasia Sidorchuk ), one from Zorka ( Maria Chinkina, who has one U19 cap ) and Anastasia Ihrusha, who played once for FK Minsk in 2018 and has one U19 cap.
The physical difference between the women of Dinamo Minsk and the girls of ABFF U19 was apparent, and Dinamo made the difference in size, speed, strength and skill tell. After just 22 minutes they were 7-0 up and despite having a penalty saved, led 9-0 at half-time. Despite only adding a further 7 goals in the second half, Dinamo coach Yuri Maleeu, normally a hard taskmaster, was reported on the Dinamo Minsk website as being satisfied with his side’s performance. 10 different Dinamo players were on the scoresheet, with Anna Pilipenko getting a hat-trick.
After a respectable debut in the Premier League the weekend before, Vitebsk found things much harder against a Zorka side looking to get their season back on track after defeat at home to Minsk in week 1. Vitebsk did start promisingly, keeping Zorka at bay for 27 minutes, and although they conceded again almost immediately, they pulled a goal back with a fabulous long-range effort from former Bobruichanka player Natalia Vasilyeva for their first goal of the season. Zorka were stung into action though and three goals in six minutes gave them a 5-1 lead at the interval. The second half was mostly a procession with Vitebsk working hard to only concede just three more goals.
For Zorka, 18 year old Olga Kapysha looks an outstanding prospect, with an eye-catching display on the right side of midfield, regularly taking on and beating defenders and with an eye for goal. She converted a penalty after being fouled, scored another with a clinical finish, and sent a curling left-footed shot that hit the bar with the rebound being fired home by Miroshnichenko for Zorka’s second goal. 17 year old Diana Bakum also confirmed the good impression from last season with a couple of nice flicks to create space for others, and grabbed two goals as well. The experienced Miroshnichenko and Tropnikova gave typically reliable performances, with the latter also scoring twice and having the assist for the opening goal for Voskobovich.
Dnepr Mogilev look on course to have a much better season than in 2020, where they finished 7th out of 8 and won only four matches, three of which were against BOTSOR, who lost every game. Dnepr beat Zorka in a pre-season friendly and have strengthened their squad with some notable signings. Keeper Maria Svidunovich was with Dinamo Minsk last season, forward Yana Artishevskaya and midfielder Viktoria Plisyuk were with ABFF U19, and Irina Sitnikova was one of BOTSOR’s two decent players. Ex-Isloch midfielder Zarina Kapustina returns after three seasons away from the Premier League.
Dinamo Brest are essentially are rebranding of last season’s rock bottom side BOTSOR, with just about all of their match-day squad this weekend being ex-BOTSOR players. However, with the two stand-out players from last year’s team having moved to other clubs, a better season probably depends on the newcomers being even worse !
The match was quickly over as a contest. Kapustina put Dnepr ahead in the 6 minutes, before the tall, skilful left footed Artishevskaya added two more mid-way through the half. Brest keeper Voinarovich saved a penalty but Nizhegorodova made amends for her miss by following up to score from the rebound. Denisenko ran through and rounded the keeper to give Dnepr a 5-0 lead at half-time. In a sterile second half, Dnepr were only able to add two more goals in the second half. Right-back Gudchenko also had a good game for Dnepr Mogilev with several probing runs from the back, and completed the scoring with a nice finish from 14 yards.
After an even start, Surovtseva gave FK Minsk the lead after half an hour with an excellent run and finish. The game took a decisive turn 5 minutes before half-time when the referee awarded a penalty for handball against Bobruichanka defender Goncharova, who was lying on the ground at the time. Despite it not being a clear goalscoring opportunity, nor a deliberate offence, the referee also showed a red card to the unfortunate defender. Clearly the interpretation of the double jeopardy rule is different in Belarus. Pogegailo despatched the penalty.
Despite the extra player advantage, Minsk found it difficult to break down the Bobruichanka defence in the second half, with just Marchyk’s deflected shot beating Bobruichanka keeper Makhovskaya.
Pogegailo looked to be the game’s most creative player, equally comfortable with either foot and willing to run past defenders. She added a fully deserved second goal in added on time, sending a curling left-footed effort over the substitute keeper from just outside the area.
The new Region of Gomel side played at the same stadium that Sputnik and FK Gomel had used for their opening games of the Belarus Premier League, and all of their squad were under 22 years old. None of them appeared to have any experience at this level.
Gomel played in yellow, whilst Neman Grodno wore a change grey strip. Neman were ruthless in exploiting Gomel’s inadequacies and were 6-0 up after only 26 minutes. At this point they looked likely to surpass the 16 goals Dinamo had scored, but Neman took the foot off the gas and it stayed 6-0 until half-time.
However, five more goals were added in the second half for an 11-0 final score. Juliet Nana led the way with 5 goals, whilst Zuweratu grabbed the opening two goals. Like Dinamo, Neman could also afford to miss a penalty. It probably won’t get any easier for Gomel when they visit Zorka next week………….
So far, Neman, Vitebsk and Dinamo Brest sides have played their matches inside what appear to be giant igloos, and Dnepr played all of last season inside such a dome. There must be some giant Eskimos in Belarus !! Dinamo, Zorka, Bobruichanka and Gomel have played outdoors on artificial surfaces.
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