By Yegor Glebov
On the eve of the match, the head coach of the Belarusian national team, Georgy Kondratiev, noted that his squad aimed to focus on its attack skills, while the line-up would differ from that seen recently against Spain. Belarusian fans were thus inspired to raise their hopes for victory, speculating on who would make up the ‘first eleven’.
Mr. Kondratiev used a 4+3+2+1 formation, with Hleb and Renan Bressan as attacking halfbacks, unambiguously showing his determination to win. Absent from the match against Spain, Verkhovtsov was back on the pitch, alongside Polyakov, Pavlov and Bressan, creating a stronger team.
The squad began by opening the score in the 6th minute, after Stanislav Dragun threw the ball from the penalty area to Renan Bressan, who sent it powerfully into Reveshvili’s net. They repeated their magic again later, with Bressan kicking the ball into the penalty area from the left wing, allowing Dragun to take the score to 2:0 with an overhead kick.
During the second half, Belarus took the initiative again, while keeping Georgia away from its net. Opportunities for goals presented themselves again, as Alexander Pavlov twice brought Vitaly Rodionov into a shooting position. Sadly, Reveshvili saved the first attempt and the second hit the bar. The head coach of the Belarusian squad, Georgy Kondratiev, believes that his trainees fulfilled their goal of playing aggressively and pleasing fans with victory after three defeats at the beginning of the tournament. He feels that they did their best and could yet show their true talent before the World Championship winter break. Of course, this season isn’t yet over, with the team playing again on November 14th, against Israel.
The Georgian team coach, Temuri Ketsbaia, was disappointed in failing to claim even one point from Minsk but stressed that his squad had played better than they had during their victorious match in Tbilisi (1:0). He admitted that the Belarusian team was clearly stronger and deserved its victory.
The win pushes Belarus up from last place in the tournament table’s Group I, above Finland.
