Both rivals had draws in the opening round, with Belarusians playing at home against the French (0:0) and the Dutch facing the Swedes away (1:1). Before the game in Rotterdam, the coaches of both squads — Danny Blind and Alexander Khatskevich — were convinced they were going to earn points, but only the Dutch actually managed it.
The hosts immediately seized the initiative and made Belarusian footballers think only about defence in the first period. Before the break, the persistence of the Dutch was rewarded twice, with both goals scored by Quincy Promes, a forward of Moscow Spartak. He scored his first goal in the 16th minute and the second flew into Andrey Gorbunov’s net 15 minutes later.
The second half began with the first goal of the Belarusian team, scored by Alexei Rios, who used a precise pass by the captain of the Belarusian squad, Sergey Kornilenko (in his 75th match for the team). After missing this goal, Danny Blind’s players took the game under control and scored twice more. In the 56th minute, Mikhail Sivakov made a mistake in the box, enabling Davy Klaassen to score the third goal and 8 minutes later Vincent Janssen produced a strike to the top right corner of the Belarusian net.
By Alexey Grishin
