By Valentin Orlov
Belarus dominated the match, until the 32nd minute, when Libya took advantage of a team blunder to score. Belarus then stirred itself to fight back, with several shots at the net, but only one resulted in a goal. During the 77th minute, Sergey Kornilenko managed to equalise.
“The draw against Libya is not the result we were counting on,” noted Bernd Stange, following his final match as head coach. Since June 2007, the German specialist has guided the squad through 49 matches (and would have been a beautiful ‘50’ were it not for the scheduled match against Niger being cancelled). Under Mr. Stange, the Belarusian national squad claimed their highest ranking to date: 36th worldwide this year. Belarus is to next play Armenia — on the last day of the winter season.
Meanwhile, the junior squad is heading for the London Olympics in 2012. Georgy Kondratiev’s team played their final match against the UAE team (also going to the Games), losing — 2:4. Alexey Kozlov (25) and Yegor Zubovich (38) scored two goals but several mistakes led to victory for the host team.