England expect a tough game against Belarus in Minsk tonight in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
Belarus, a former Soviet republic with a land area around the same size as Britain, is ranked only 95th in FIFA's rankings.
But England should never underestimate their opponents when they are up against them in an unfamiliar stadium, in freezing weather and in front of a partisan crowd.
If England win, they will have won all four of their opening World Cup qualifying matches, their best record in any World Cup qualifiying since 1970.
England expect tough Belarus tie
World Cup 2010 qualifying Group Six: Belarus v England
Venue: Dinamo Stadium, Minsk
Date: Wednesday, 15 October
Kick-off: 1930 BST
Coverage: BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport website. Live on Setanta Sports 1
VS
GROUP 6
.................P....W....D....L....F....A....Points
England........3.....3....0....0....11....2......9
Ukraine........3.....2....1....0.....4....1......7
Croatia.........3....1.....1....1.....4....4.....4
Belarus.........2....1.....0....1.....3....2......3
Kazakhstan....4.....1.....0....3.....5....11....3
Andorra........3.....0.....0....3....1.....8.....0
Fabio Capello has warned his England side that Belarus will provide stern opposition in their World Cup qualifying tie on Wednesday.
England will go five points clear at the top of Group 6 with a win, but the coach warned against complacency.
"Belarus is a very good team and it will not be an easy game," he said. "They drew with Argentina and Germany. It will be a very, very tough game.
"I spoke with the players and said it is very, very important."
The match in Minsk is England's last qualifier before they host Ukraine in April next year.
England's nearest rivals Ukraine and Croatia drew on Saturday, allowing Capello's side to move clear at the top of the group.
Ukraine do not play again until their trip to Wembley, meaning England can strengthen their position with a fourth straight win.
"We have to wait six months for the next games," added Capello.
"If we win we are very happy because we will have played four games and will have 12 points.
"We played one strong game away to Croatia, which was very important for the mind and for the confidence and Belarus will be a very, very important game.
"We have to follow our positive results."
Stand-in skipper Rio Ferdinand said the squad are eager to become the first England side to win their first four games of a qualifying campaign.
"That will be a great motivation to get four out of four," he said. "It will put us in a good position but we're under no illusions. It will be a tough game as they have played some of the biggest teams in the world and held their own.
"The English public may not see them as a threat but we know it will be tough game."
England midfielder Steven Gerrard has revealed he was worried about his place in the side after a poor game in the 5-1 win over Kazakhstan.
Capello dodged questions over whether the Liverpool captain was guaranteed a place in his starting line-up, vowing to wait until their final training session before deciding on his team.
But whoever he plays, the Italian said he would send out his side to win the game. "I always think about the victory, I never speak with players about playing for a draw," he said. "We have to go to the pitch and you have to win. We have no fear."
Bluffer's guide to Belarus
By OLIVER HARVEY
Chief Feature Writer
The Sun
Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is around the same size as Britain (207,600 sq kms compared to Britain's 244,820 sq kms) but has a population of just 10 million
WE might have SWP – but they’ve got the KGB.
England’s next World Cup qualifying opponents are little-known Belarus, sandwiched between Poland and Russia.
And while Shaun Wright-Phillips could be running the wing for England tonight, the sinister KGB spy ring still operates in Belarus — known as White Russia.
It is a land-locked country where the Iron Curtain has yet to be drawn.
The former Soviet nation of ten million has been labelled “the last dictatorship in Europe”.
Here we bring you the bluffer’s guide to Belarus — 20 fascinating facts to impress your mates while you watch the game.
1. Belarus manager Bernd Stange was a Cold War spy.
Star ... Alexander Hleb
As a team boss in East Germany — first at club Carl Zeiss Jena, and then for six years in charge of the national side — he informed for the Stasi, the secret police.
Under codename Kurt Wegner he was briefed to pass on any signs that his players were tempted to defect to the other side of the Berlin Wall.
2. Stange was also in the line of fire during his time as national coach of Iraq from 2002 to 2004.
He said: “My car was shot at. I had death threats because there was a picture in the newspaper of me with the British foreign minister Jack Straw and 5,000 footballs that he had given us.
“A photo of me with the mortal enemy! After that I had to leave the country.”
3. Their most famous sports star is gymnast poster girl Olga Korbut — now 53 — who won four gold and two silver Olympic medals.
At the 1972 Munich Games she became the first person ever to do a backward somersault in competition on the beam.
4. President Alexander Lukashenko, 54, has stifled anyone speaking out against his 14-year rule. He warned that anyone joining opposition protests would be treated as a “terrorist”, adding: “We will wring their necks — as one might a duck.”
5. In 1995 he was said to have praised Adolf Hitler, saying: “The history of Germany is a copy of the history of Belarus.
“Germany was raised from the ruins thanks to firm authority, and not everything connected with that well-known figure, Adolf Hitler, was bad. German order evolved over the centuries and under Hitler it attained its peak.” It was later claimed he was misquoted.
6. Opposition activists are closely monitored by the secret police — still called the KGB.
Dinamo Stadium ... 1980 Olympic venue
7. Belarus is the only country in Europe that practises the death penalty. Execution is carried out by firing squad.
8. England will face Belarus tonight at the Dinamo Stadium in capital Minsk. The ground — capacity 41,040 — was one of the venues of the football tournament at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
9. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Belarus as the “last dictatorship in Europe”. It only became a separate state in 1991, following seven decades as a Soviet republic.
10. Their star player is former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb — who is out injured.
Manager Stange is a big fan of the Barcelona ace. He said: “When someone like Hleb is injured then the team are missing their Maradona, their Beckenbauer, their Pele.”
Olympic gymnast ... Olga Korbut
11. Protests against Lukashenko were described as the Jeans Revolution. In the former Soviet Union jeans were a symbol of Western culture and so were recognised by Belarusian opposition as a symbol of protest against Lukashenko’s Soviet-like policies.
Demonstrations failed to dent his hold on power.
12. Belarus is heavily affected by the fall-out from the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl in neighbouring Ukraine in 1986. Hundreds of thousands of people suffered high radiation doses. Around 20 per cent of agricultural land is contaminated and unusable.
13. British band the Levellers released single Belaruse in 1993. The lyrics have been interpreted as referring to the Chernobyl disaster.
KGB ... activists monitored
14. Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas — born Issur Danielovitch in the US in 1916 — has Belarusian parents called Bryna and Herschel.
15. Belarus has its own rap music scene but the biggest band is NRM, inspired by the US rockers REM.
NRM — the initials stand for the Belarusian words for Independent Dream Republic — are banned from government-controlled radio stations.
The band, which is known for supporting democracy movements, had big hits with the albums LaLaLaLa and Acoustic Concerts At The End Of The 20th Century.
16. Hollywood film producer Louis B. Mayer was born in the Belarus capital Minsk in 1884.
He is credited with making the first modern celebrities by creating the star system at American studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now better known as MGM.
Soccer manager ... Bernd Stange
Stars he groomed included Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Mayer died in 1957.
17. Approximately 40 per cent of Belarus is covered in forests, reflected by the green stripe (as well as red) on the national flag.
18. Clothes designer Ralph Lauren — born Ralph Lifshi tz in New York in 1939 — is the son of Belarusian Jewish immigrants.
19. Belarus was left devastated by the Second World War. Occupied by the Nazis between 1941 and 1944, it lost 2.2million people, including most of its Jewish population.
20. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in the Belarusian village of Petrovichi, now part of Russia. His famous books include the Foundation series and the short-story collection I, Robot.
thesun.co.uk
Belarus, a former Soviet republic with a land area around the same size as Britain, is ranked only 95th in FIFA's rankings.
But England should never underestimate their opponents when they are up against them in an unfamiliar stadium, in freezing weather and in front of a partisan crowd.
If England win, they will have won all four of their opening World Cup qualifying matches, their best record in any World Cup qualifiying since 1970.
England expect tough Belarus tie
World Cup 2010 qualifying Group Six: Belarus v England
Venue: Dinamo Stadium, Minsk
Date: Wednesday, 15 October
Kick-off: 1930 BST
Coverage: BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport website. Live on Setanta Sports 1
GROUP 6
.................P....W....D....L....F....A....Points
England........3.....3....0....0....11....2......9
Ukraine........3.....2....1....0.....4....1......7
Croatia.........3....1.....1....1.....4....4.....4
Belarus.........2....1.....0....1.....3....2......3
Kazakhstan....4.....1.....0....3.....5....11....3
Andorra........3.....0.....0....3....1.....8.....0
Fabio Capello has warned his England side that Belarus will provide stern opposition in their World Cup qualifying tie on Wednesday.
England will go five points clear at the top of Group 6 with a win, but the coach warned against complacency.
"Belarus is a very good team and it will not be an easy game," he said. "They drew with Argentina and Germany. It will be a very, very tough game.
"I spoke with the players and said it is very, very important."
The match in Minsk is England's last qualifier before they host Ukraine in April next year.
England's nearest rivals Ukraine and Croatia drew on Saturday, allowing Capello's side to move clear at the top of the group.
Ukraine do not play again until their trip to Wembley, meaning England can strengthen their position with a fourth straight win.
"We have to wait six months for the next games," added Capello.
"If we win we are very happy because we will have played four games and will have 12 points.
"We played one strong game away to Croatia, which was very important for the mind and for the confidence and Belarus will be a very, very important game.
"We have to follow our positive results."
Stand-in skipper Rio Ferdinand said the squad are eager to become the first England side to win their first four games of a qualifying campaign.
"That will be a great motivation to get four out of four," he said. "It will put us in a good position but we're under no illusions. It will be a tough game as they have played some of the biggest teams in the world and held their own.
"The English public may not see them as a threat but we know it will be tough game."
England midfielder Steven Gerrard has revealed he was worried about his place in the side after a poor game in the 5-1 win over Kazakhstan.
Capello dodged questions over whether the Liverpool captain was guaranteed a place in his starting line-up, vowing to wait until their final training session before deciding on his team.
But whoever he plays, the Italian said he would send out his side to win the game. "I always think about the victory, I never speak with players about playing for a draw," he said. "We have to go to the pitch and you have to win. We have no fear."
Bluffer's guide to Belarus
By OLIVER HARVEY
Chief Feature Writer
The Sun
Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is around the same size as Britain (207,600 sq kms compared to Britain's 244,820 sq kms) but has a population of just 10 million
WE might have SWP – but they’ve got the KGB.
England’s next World Cup qualifying opponents are little-known Belarus, sandwiched between Poland and Russia.
And while Shaun Wright-Phillips could be running the wing for England tonight, the sinister KGB spy ring still operates in Belarus — known as White Russia.
It is a land-locked country where the Iron Curtain has yet to be drawn.
The former Soviet nation of ten million has been labelled “the last dictatorship in Europe”.
Here we bring you the bluffer’s guide to Belarus — 20 fascinating facts to impress your mates while you watch the game.
1. Belarus manager Bernd Stange was a Cold War spy.
Star ... Alexander Hleb
As a team boss in East Germany — first at club Carl Zeiss Jena, and then for six years in charge of the national side — he informed for the Stasi, the secret police.
Under codename Kurt Wegner he was briefed to pass on any signs that his players were tempted to defect to the other side of the Berlin Wall.
2. Stange was also in the line of fire during his time as national coach of Iraq from 2002 to 2004.
He said: “My car was shot at. I had death threats because there was a picture in the newspaper of me with the British foreign minister Jack Straw and 5,000 footballs that he had given us.
“A photo of me with the mortal enemy! After that I had to leave the country.”
3. Their most famous sports star is gymnast poster girl Olga Korbut — now 53 — who won four gold and two silver Olympic medals.
At the 1972 Munich Games she became the first person ever to do a backward somersault in competition on the beam.
4. President Alexander Lukashenko, 54, has stifled anyone speaking out against his 14-year rule. He warned that anyone joining opposition protests would be treated as a “terrorist”, adding: “We will wring their necks — as one might a duck.”
5. In 1995 he was said to have praised Adolf Hitler, saying: “The history of Germany is a copy of the history of Belarus.
“Germany was raised from the ruins thanks to firm authority, and not everything connected with that well-known figure, Adolf Hitler, was bad. German order evolved over the centuries and under Hitler it attained its peak.” It was later claimed he was misquoted.
6. Opposition activists are closely monitored by the secret police — still called the KGB.
Dinamo Stadium ... 1980 Olympic venue
7. Belarus is the only country in Europe that practises the death penalty. Execution is carried out by firing squad.
8. England will face Belarus tonight at the Dinamo Stadium in capital Minsk. The ground — capacity 41,040 — was one of the venues of the football tournament at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
9. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Belarus as the “last dictatorship in Europe”. It only became a separate state in 1991, following seven decades as a Soviet republic.
10. Their star player is former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb — who is out injured.
Manager Stange is a big fan of the Barcelona ace. He said: “When someone like Hleb is injured then the team are missing their Maradona, their Beckenbauer, their Pele.”
Olympic gymnast ... Olga Korbut
11. Protests against Lukashenko were described as the Jeans Revolution. In the former Soviet Union jeans were a symbol of Western culture and so were recognised by Belarusian opposition as a symbol of protest against Lukashenko’s Soviet-like policies.
Demonstrations failed to dent his hold on power.
12. Belarus is heavily affected by the fall-out from the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl in neighbouring Ukraine in 1986. Hundreds of thousands of people suffered high radiation doses. Around 20 per cent of agricultural land is contaminated and unusable.
13. British band the Levellers released single Belaruse in 1993. The lyrics have been interpreted as referring to the Chernobyl disaster.
KGB ... activists monitored
14. Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas — born Issur Danielovitch in the US in 1916 — has Belarusian parents called Bryna and Herschel.
15. Belarus has its own rap music scene but the biggest band is NRM, inspired by the US rockers REM.
NRM — the initials stand for the Belarusian words for Independent Dream Republic — are banned from government-controlled radio stations.
The band, which is known for supporting democracy movements, had big hits with the albums LaLaLaLa and Acoustic Concerts At The End Of The 20th Century.
16. Hollywood film producer Louis B. Mayer was born in the Belarus capital Minsk in 1884.
He is credited with making the first modern celebrities by creating the star system at American studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now better known as MGM.
Soccer manager ... Bernd Stange
Stars he groomed included Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Mayer died in 1957.
17. Approximately 40 per cent of Belarus is covered in forests, reflected by the green stripe (as well as red) on the national flag.
18. Clothes designer Ralph Lauren — born Ralph Lifshi tz in New York in 1939 — is the son of Belarusian Jewish immigrants.
19. Belarus was left devastated by the Second World War. Occupied by the Nazis between 1941 and 1944, it lost 2.2million people, including most of its Jewish population.
20. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in the Belarusian village of Petrovichi, now part of Russia. His famous books include the Foundation series and the short-story collection I, Robot.
thesun.co.uk