To win the group tournament of the League of Nations, Belarusian players have to overcome the Albanian barrier

It never happened, but it happened: the national team of Belarus won three official matches in a row. And it does not matter that twice on this path, our players met the San Marino national team - and this dwarf still had to be beaten, and the experience of previous attempts whispered that the national team is capable of stumbling anywhere

Victories over the Sanmarins with a score of 4: 0 and 2: 0, the win from the Finns - 1: 0, a zero draw with them - and now the team reports on the completed task to the League of Nations. Before the start of the tournament, the team was set up to take one of the first two places in group C1, and now it is obvious that the Belarusians will definitely be first or second in it. The Finns can catch up with us, but based on the results of personal meetings, they will not be able to bypass us. However, it is better not to look back, but to look ahead. Moreover, the victory in Sunday’s conditionally home match with the Albanians will not only allow the team to take first place in the group, not only automatically raise it to the division in the League of Nations, but also promises significant benefits in the imminent draw for the qualifying tournament Euro-2028. In addition, tomorrow's victory will bring ABFF a solid increase in the budget from UEFA - 1.2 million euros.

INFORMATION

In case of a draw or defeat from the Albanians, Belarusians are waiting for transition matches for a place in the League B. They will take place in the spring, and they will be played with one of the teams that will now take third place in the B-League. Based on current scenarios, these are the national teams of Scotland, Poland, Kosovo, Ireland.

- We planned to actively start the game, to act as aggressively as possible on the half of the San Marino national team. Ideally, they expected to score as quickly as the Finns. And to some extent it was possible, — said after the game in Serravalla head coach of our national team Viktor Gancharenko. Of course, I wanted to play the third goal, relieve tension and calm the game. And so we got involved in the swing, where the opponent at moments very aggressively entered into martial arts and provoked us to the same retaliatory actions. Therefore, the game fell into fouls and divided into segments. Of course, we all want the perfect action. Let’s not forget that this is the fifth official match. And with the exception of rare stretches, I think all five of us did well. It is also very important that we maintain our chances of being in first place in the group. It's Sunday now.

- In any case, on Sunday we will try to play for victory, says young Timothy Simanenko, who in San Marino recorded a goal pass on Artem Kontsevoy. At least the mood will be exactly appropriate, and there, as God will give, as it turns out. Believe in us, we will try to surprise you.

Albanians on Thursday pleased the fans, beating the Finns in their field - 2: 0, but the Italian coach of the Balkan team Rolando Maran is now forced to look for pills for dizziness from success:

- It wasn't easy with Finland because at the end of the first half we backed down and we stopped putting pressure. We don't have to be a passive team because when that happens, the opponents start their attacks. We have to apply pressure. We leave some space, but if we retreat, as we did at the end, we see that we are not where we should be

It is interesting that six years ago the Belarusian and Albanian teams approached the decisive match in the C League with almost identical indicators. Then, however, ours led, but lost in Tirana - 2: 3 and failed to climb to League B. It seems now is time to switch places.

TABLET

League of Nations. Group C1

November 12th. San Marino — Belarus — 0: 2 (Gomonov, 13, Kontsevoi, 17), Albania — Finland — 2: 0.