The painful defeat of 0:3 has interrupted Belarus’ five victorious matches, in which it conceded not a single goal. While Yegor Filipenko was injured and was replaced in the first half, the squad certainly comprised strong players, and ‘false nine’ tactics were used, to ensure good midfield coverage and more chance of scoring.
Forwards Kyle Lafferty, Conor Washington and Will Grigg managed to score into the Belarusian net, while our only forward, Nikolay Yanush, was replaced in the second half.
Northern Ireland now surpasses Belarus in almost all major football statistics: kicks, shots to goal, corner kicks, and ball possession. It was simply better and won deservedly.
By Igor Svitov