Belarus vs England 2008: Ten Things You Should Know about Belarus

You know that England will go to Minsk to face Belarus in a group 6 world cup qualifying campaign I came to know about an interesting article published in Sky Sports today. It is about ten things on Belarus. The ten things are not only about Belarusian football, but also it includes information about the country and its politics etc. Still, I found it interesting enough with you. Here, I am quoting few points from that Sky Sports article:

1: The Belarus national team played their first match against Lithuania on July 20, 1992 and secured their first win against Luxembourg on October 12, 1994.

2: Belarus are currently ranked 59th by FIFA having achieved their highest position of 57th in June this year.

3: Sergei Gurenko is Belarus' most capped player with 80 appearances. He retired from international football in 2006.

7: Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut, fashion designer Ralph Lauren, actor Kirk Douglas and artist Marc Chagall are all of Belarusian descent.

8: Belarus is the only country in Europe that retains the death penalty.

Well, there are few other things that you might find interesting in the article. From the article, I also came to know that Belarus’ biggest international victory came in 1998 when Belarus defeated Lithuania 5-0, while they suffered their worst defeat in 2003 when they were defeated Australia by 5-0. Belarus is a country that has 40 percent forest. I want you to visit Sky Sports and read this interesting article, even if you do not have any interest about Wednesday’s match between Belarus and England.

Belarus vs England 2008: Belarus Looking to Stop Wayne Rooney

England will face Belarus in a seemingly tricky away match on Wednesday and this is believed not be an easy affair for England who is leading the group 6 with nine points from three matches. England defeated Kazakhstan 5-1 at home recently. Wayne Rooney emerged with his top form against Kazakhstan as he scored twice in the match. However, Belarus seems to be looking to find out his weakness in order to stop him.

Belarus striker Vitaly Bulyga has recently said that Rooney is not someone unbeatable and Belarus is not scared of Rooney. Rather the striker thinks that Belarus will use Rooney’s weakness to stop him showing his best in the match on Wednesday in Minsk. Belarus will miss their star midfielder Alexander Hleb for the England match, but still they are confident of creating an upset against England. Vitaly Bulyga also warned England not to take Belarus lightly, indicating Belarus’ 2-1 surprise victory over Holland in Euro 2008 qualifying round.

Telegraph reported:

Belarus striker Vitaly Bulyga said: "We are not scared of Rooney. He is not unbeatable and as a human being he has weaknesses. We will use that."

He added in the Sun: "I don't expect them to underestimate us. I am sure England's players and coach know we beat Holland in the last qualification and many England players clearly remember in particular how we beat them in 2006 in a friendly game.

"We are growing and we are not afraid of anybody. If England predict an easy victory I don't care, it is not my problem.

The Belarus striker has also revealed that their coach always tells the players that they can beat England. Indicating Russia’s home victory over England last year, Bulyga has said that the victory for Russia is a good example for Belarus to know how to defeat England at home.

Well, I am sure Belarus is a strong side and is in their way to get the tag of a giant killer in European football. However, if England carries on their recent form then, I think, Belarus will definitely find it hard to deny England three points from the match. Let us see if Belarus can take a stern test of England team.

Belarus vs England 2008: Steven Gerrard Receives Criticism Positively

You might be surprised to see the title of the article. England defeated Kazakhstan 5-1 convincingly in their recent world cup qualifying match at Wembley stadium. So, you might think that what is the point to criticize then? Well, the thing is that England was not impressive in the first half and they needed 52 minutes to get their first goal against 131-ranked team Kazakhstan. Moreover, England suffered a goal thanks to the mistake of defender Ashley Cole and that goal made the score 2-1. English fans booed the England team at the half time when the score was goalless. Naturally, not many players will accept criticism after such a big margin victory, but Steven Gerrard is not one of them.

England midfielder Steven Gerrard thinks that as a player it is very naturally to live with criticism. You may not find any justification of such criticism, but Gerrard does. He feels that people have big expectation on the England team. So, criticism is also very natural here.

IHT reported:

You've got to live with that as a player," Gerrard told reporters on Monday, two days before the team goes to Belarus aiming to make it four wins in four. "There are big expectations on this team. We are England. We expect to be successful and to have a good team that's playing well so, when it doesn't always click, you expect it (criticism).

"But, in the end, we got there on Saturday, a 5-1 win, and when you look at the bigger picture we are top of the group with three wins and confident that we can get the fourth on Wednesday."

England is now going to face Belarus in Minsk on Wednesday. With nine points, England is leading their group with Ukraine and Croatia taking the second and third place respectively. England will definitely look to win the match at Belarus too, even though manager Fabio Capello considers Belarus as a tricky opponent.

However, I do not think fans should overly criticize the England team, because it is a game and you can not expect a team to play with similar dominance every match. For example, in their opening match of world cup qualifying, England got a laborious 2-0 victory over Andorra, but they dominated over Croatia in the next match. So, I think, England has been in good form so far in world cup qualifying campaign and most importantly there are youngsters like Theo Walcott who can be the future of England football. So, fans should not criticize the team in what it might affect the progress of the young players like Walcott.

Belarus vs England 2008: The Role of Theo Walcott

Theo Walcott amazed everyone a few days ago by scoring a hat trick ageist Croatia. After that, it seems that Walcott has lost the magical touch and he could not score any goal. He could not score any goal for England in the match against Kazakhstan. It is not that he is playing bad. He is playing well, but not at his best and many fans are not happy with this matter. Now, Walcott has appealed to the fans to be more patient and to give him some room and time to flourish. I agree with Walcott and I also think that fans should be moiré patient. Yes, Walcott is a genius, but the fans must not push him too much. It is not that he can score in every game. Sometimes, things do not go well. Now, Walcott is focusing on the match against Belarus. David Beckham has praised a lot about Walcott and he thinks that Walcott played very well in the match against Kazakhstan. This should help fans to calm down and it should satisfy them. However, I think that England coach Fabio Capello and Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger should take better care of Walcott from now. He can be a great asset to both his club and to the country. For that he needs strict discipline and commitment and as little pressure as possible from the fans.

Belarus vs England 2008: The Beginning of the Tough Road?

All the England fans are happy now. They are perhaps still celebrating as it is Sunday, a weekend holiday. They are in a happy and celebrating mode and many of them are planning to go to Belarus to see the national team in action. One thing I always like is that whenever England plays in any part of the world, a large number of England fans always try to support their England national team. Of course, they also got bad reputation for violent behavior, but still this kind of [passionate support is very difficult to get in today’s world. Now, England coach Fabio Capello thinks that the tough road will just start with the Belarus match. It will be an away match and Belarus can be a tricky opposition. The worrying part for England is that in the last match against Kazakhstan, it took some more than 50 minutes to score a goal. Even after scoring two goals, England suffered a goal and many fans thought that England may suffer in yesterday’s match. However, the happy thing is that everything moves smoothly.

I do not think that Belarus match should be a very difficult match for England. Secondly, it looks that England has done some good work and it should not be a big problem for them to qualify. Of course, they have to continue their good form and they must not become complacent. The good thing is that the other two strong teams in the group, Croatia and Ukraine, are not doing very well. England is now at the top of the group with 9 points from three matches and in the second position is Ukraine with 7 points from three matches. England last night drew against Croatia 0-0.

Belarus vs England 2008: Rio Ferdinand Unhappy with English Fans

Well, you may get a bit surprised with the title of this entry. Why should Rio Ferdinand become unhappy with any fan? After all it was a memorable day yesterday when England trounced Kazakhstan 5-1 in front of the home crowd. So, I was also confused at first. What happened is that some fans booed against Ashley Cole as Kazakhstan could pull one back after England scored two goals. At that time, there were 20 minutes remaining and some fans thought that it was the fault of Ashley Cole who could not defend well. Rio Ferdinand is very unhappy with this matter. He said that it was a shame and he also hoped that it would not be repeated. This matter annoyed not only Rio Ferdinand but also all the players of England.

I really do not like behavior of this kind of people. It is not that you can win every match and it is not that England has won all the world cups so far. In fact, England has not won any world cup titles since 1966. 1966 was the only world cup that England managed to win. So, I do not see any justification of booing Ashley Cole.

What do you think?