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Belarus national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Nov 18, 2023 at 5pm UK
Olimpiyskiy Stadion Fisht
Andorra national football team

Belarus
1 - 0
Andorra

Laptev (83')
Laptev (90+5')
FT(HT: 0-0)

Rebes (45+1'), Martinez (70'), Vieira (72')

Preview: Belarus vs. Andorra - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Saturday's Euro Champ Qualifying clash between Belarus and Andorra, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

The bottom two nations in Group I of Euro 2024 qualifying square off at Szusza Ferenc Stadion in Budapest as Belarus take on Andorra.

These teams meet for the first time since playing out a goalless draw in the reverse fixture two months ago.


Match preview

Belarus' Dmitri Antilevski celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates on October 15, 2023© Reuters

Despite claiming six points from their last five Group I fixtures, Belarus' hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024 are over as they currently sit fifth in the group and 10 points adrift of both Switzerland and Romania in the top two with two games remaining.

Nevertheless, manager Carlos Alos will have taken plenty of positives from his side's recent performances, including successive draws against Romania and Switzerland last month – playing out a goalless stalemate with the former three days before drawing 3-3 with the latter.

The White Wings were surprisingly leading 3-1 away against the Swiss last time out – seven months on from their 5-0 home drubbing on matchday one – courtesy of goals from Max Ebong, Denis Polyakov and Dmitri Antilevski, but they were unable to hold on for maximum points as two late strikes from Manuel Akanji and Zeki Amdouni restored parity for the hosts.

Belarus, ranked 100th in the world by FIFA, head into Saturday's clash with Andorra seeking to put together a three-game unbeaten run in competitive matches for the first time since October/November 2020.

Alos's men, who have already bettered their points tally from Euro 2020 qualifying (four) with two games to spare, will fancy their chances of success on Saturday as they are unbeaten in their last four meetings with Andorra, winning three times and scoring 11 goals in the process.

Andorra players celebrate after Albert Rosas scores their first goal on June 19, 2023© Reuters

Since claiming a point in September's goalless draw with Belarus, Andorra have lost each of their last three qualifiers in Group I by an aggregate score of 10-0, failing to register a single shot on target on two of those occasions.

After suffering a 3-0 home defeat to Kosovo, the Tricolours were put to the sword 4-0 by Romania in their most recent match and they subsequently sit rock bottom of Group I, four points adrift of fifth-placed Belarus heading into their final two fixtures.

Although Koldo Alvarez's side, ranked 159th in the world by FIFA, cannot qualify for Euro 2024, they can boost their chances of moving off the foot of Group I with a victory over Belarus on Saturday – not since a 2-0 triumph in April 2000 have the Tricolours come out on top against the White Wings.

Success on Saturday could prove challenging, though, as they have only won two of their last 25 international away matches across all competitions since September 2018, while they have never won an away qualifier in the European Championships.

Belarus Euro Champ Qualifying form:

Andorra Euro Champ Qualifying form:


Team News

Belarus players pose for a team group photo before the match on September 12, 2023© Reuters

Belarus boss Also deployed a 5-4-1 formation against Switzerland last time out, but he could call upon Sergey Karpovich and Kiryl Pyachenin to operate as wing-backs in a more attack-minded 3-4-3 setup against Andorra.

Astana midfielder Ebong has scored three of Belarus' seven goals in Euro 2024 qualifying and he is expected to take up a central role alongside either Nikita Korzun or Valery Bocherov.

BATE Borisov's Artem Kontsevoy has only scored once in seven international appearances, but he is the most likely candidate to lead the line, and he could be supported in attack by Ivan Bakhar and Maksim Skavysh.

As for Andorra, they will be without defender Moises San Nicolas after he was sent off in the closing stages of the defeat to Romania last time out.

The absence of San Nicolas could see either Kiko Pomares or Aleix Viladot join Marc Vales and Max Llovera at centre-back, as Jesus Rubio and Marc Garcia occupy the full-back positions in a five-man defence.

At the ripe age of 41 and 39 respectively, midfielders Marc Pujol and Marcio Vieira will both be pushing to start alongside Marc Rebes, while Aaron Sanchez – who is yet to score in 30 international matches – will hope to retain his place up front ahead of Ricard Fernandez and Jordi Alaez.


Belarus possible starting lineup:
Ignatovich; Volkov, Politevich, Polyakov; Karpovich, Ebong, Korzun, Pyachenin; Skavysh, Kontsevoy, Bakhar

Andorra possible starting lineup:
Alvarez; Rubio, Llovera, M. Vales, Pomares, Garcia; E. Vales, Rebes, Vieira, Cervos; Alaez


SM words green background

We say: Belarus 1-0 Andorra

These two European minnows are merely playing for pride on Saturday, but nevertheless will be motivated to claim a rare victory that can provide a much-needed morale boost heading into their final fixture of 2023 next week.

Another closely-fought contest could be in store, but we believe that Belarus have the edge in the final third and will do just enough to claim all three points.



For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.


Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:data


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Game History

How you voted: Belarus vs Andorra

Belarus
76.9%
Draw
17.3%
Andorra
5.8%
52
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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain870121
Q Scotland flag Scotland852117
3 Norway Norway832311
4 Georgia Georgia82248
5 Cyprus Cyprus80080

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France871022
Q Netherlands Netherlands860218
3 Greece Greece841313
4 Ireland Rep. Ireland82066
5 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar80080

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England862020
Q Italy Italy842214
3 Ukraine Ukraine842214
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia82248
5 Malta flag Malta80080

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Turkey Turkey852117
Q Croatia Croatia851216
3 Wales flag Wales833212
4 Armenia Armenia82248
5 Latvia Latvia81073

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania843115
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic843115
3 Poland Poland832311
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova824210
5 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands80262

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Belgium Belgium862020
Q Austria Austria861119
3 Sweden Sweden831410
4 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan82157
5 Estonia Estonia80171

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Hungary Hungary853018
Q Serbia Serbia842214
3 Montenegro Montenegro832311
4 Lithuania Lithuania81346
5 Bulgaria Bulgaria80444

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Denmark Denmark1071222
Q Slovenia Slovenia1071222
3 Finland Finland1060418
4 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1060418
5 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland103079
6 San Marino flag San Marino1000100

Group I

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Romania Romania1064022
Q Switzerland Switzerland1045117
3 Israel Israel1043315
4 Belarus Belarus1033412
5 Kosovo flag Kosovo1025311
6 Andorra flag Andorra100282

Group J

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal10100030
Q Slovakia Slovakia1071222
3 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg1052317
4 Iceland Iceland1031610
5 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina103079
6 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein1000100


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