Hope determines consciousness. Belarus football team starts in the League of Nations

The football team of Belarus is already in Tirana, where tonight will hold the first match of the new draw of the League of Nations. In Group C1 in the official rivals of our guys team Albania, Finland and San Marino, and in the unofficial – they themselves. They will be able to tune in to each match and not lose it before the game and we will support the team in their dreams and prayers. They won’t be able to – very soon we will switch to the old songs and start talking about a new qualifying cycle.

Preparing to leave for Albania, the national team trained at the National Football Stadium. A series of failures in recent years has thrown the national team of Belarus at the end of the first hundred FIFA rankings. Today she is 96th and, of course, from this position can not be considered a favorite in the group, where there are teams with 67th (Albania) and 75th (Finland) lines. We still have the weakest team on the planet (San Marino closes the FIFA ranking at 211th), but even our guys should be afraid of it for at least two reasons. Firstly, just two years ago, Isloch, now in first place in the Belarusian championship, lost to La Fiorita from San Marino in the first round of the Conference League. And secondly, the San Marino team in the last Nations League not only won the first away victory in its history, but also won the group in the D League against the teams of Gibraltar and Liechtenstein.

On arrival in Tirana. And yet it is clear to any hedgehog that the main fight in our group will be between three teams - Albania, Finland and Belarus. Each team has its own disadvantages and advantages. The Finns, after a historic breakthrough for themselves at Euro 2020, somewhat slowed down and a year ago changed the coach. But they still have the most experienced goalkeeper Lukasz Hradecki and forward Yoel Pohyanpalo in the ranks. Albanians trump impressive representation in the Italian Serie A, but against them say five defeats in the last five matches. Moreover, the team lost not only to the known favorites from England and Poland, but also to the national teams of Ukraine, Israel, Luxembourg. The Belarusians, for their part, under the new head coach Viktor Gancharenko have not yet lost - in March they beat Cyprus and Armenia in friendly matches, in June they were stronger than Syria and drew with Burkina Faso. However, the team has never in its history reached the final stages of the European and world championships and, by and large, was never close to it. The Football Federation has set a task for our players to reach League B. To do this, the team must take either first or second place (which will lead to play-offs) in the group. Obviously, this result will allow the team to gain confidence before the early start of the selection for Euro-2028. The victory in the group of the League of Nations will also give an additional chance to get into the final stage of the top tournament.

Albanian national team training. What are footballers talking about? “I think the team is perfectly ready,” admitted in a television interview midfielder “ML Vitebsk” Valery Bocherov. We set ourselves maximum goals. Of course, I can’t promise you that we will be in first place. But we will do everything for this – it is one hundred percent. I'm sure of that. Everyone who goes on the field and those who will help from the bench should be together. We will definitely do everything to achieve maximum results. We will go from game to game and expect the maximum result.

- We do not divide rivals into main and secondary, said Evgeny Yablonsky, an experienced player of the Greek Asteras. Each of them is strong in their own way. We need to prepare systematically for each match. Our focus now is on the first opponent.

- Feels good. There is anticipation of the start of the League of Nations. There is no hopelessness, said Dynamo Minsk defender Roman Begunov. Based on the latest fees and sparring, I understand that this team can do a lot. This is probably her most encouraging start lately. And I think the fans feel the same way about it. Our job is not to disappoint them.

- And what other tasks to set yourself? – asks the leader of the bombardment race of the national championship, the forward of Gomel Timofey Simanenka, who was first summoned to the team. And he says: We need to set maximum goals, and then we will see the result. In any case, it is necessary to approach each match with the maximum combat attitude.

This is the last draw of the League of Nations, which is held under the current system with four divisions. Its results should prepare the Nations League for the 2028/29 draw, in which only 3 divisions with 18 teams in each will remain.

CARRIER LIFT

More recently, defender Anton Lukashov played in the Mozyr “Slavia” and the youth team, but in recent weeks his career was given almost cosmic acceleration. First, the player signed a contract with the Russian “Orenburg” and has already managed to hold a whole match against the champion of Russia “Krasnodar”. And then an invitation came to the team.

FART?

For several seasons, the Belarusian national team has been deprived of the opportunity to host rivals in official matches in their field. Before the start of the current League of Nations, it was announced that our team will hold “home” matches of the tournament in Budapest at the small arena “Rudolph Illowski”. It replaced the stadium in Zalaegerseg, Hungary, where the team had played before. It seems that we know one bet on luck, which was made in Minsk. C1 League Match Schedule

September 29th. Finland – Belarus, San Marino – Albania;

October 3rd. Belarus – San Marino, Finland – Albania;

October 6th. Belarus – Finland, Albania – San Marino;

November 12th. San Marino – Belarus, Albania – Finland;

November 15th. Belarus – Albania, Finland – San Marino. Big changes Xavi and Klopp have already played a draw

The League of Nations - 2026/2027 started on Thursday, and immediately everyone watched the match between the Netherlands and Germany. They eventually played in a draw 1: 1, and before the game the leading teams Spaniard Xavi and German Jurgen Klopp warmly hugged. New coaches at the tournament are also from France (Zinedine Zidane), Italy (Roberto Mancini), Belgium (Marc van Bommel), Portugal (Jorge Jesos), Croatia (Slaven Bilic).