Minsk tradition: will Russia be able to beat its geographical neighbors again

The June week of football matches involving national teams continues. After the meeting with Nigeria at Luzhniki Stadium, where the Russian national team drew 1-1, ending their eight-match winning streak, Valery Karpin's team travels to Minsk, where they will play the Belarusian national team at the new national football stadium on June 10. The meeting starts at 20:00. Read more about the opponent and the composition of our national team in the Izvestia article.

And hello again

Russia and Belarus will face each other for the second year in a row. It seems that in the current reality, when Russians are banned from official international football, and Belarusians are deprived of the opportunity to play with their native fans on a regular basis, this is becoming an annual tradition. Which, in general, can be safely continued in the "renaissance" (as long as there are free windows for the game). For Belarusian fans, the arrival of the Russian national team is also a celebration to some extent: the guys are all famous, they are sometimes watched no less than the locals. Well, our football players get an additional, now rare opportunity to go abroad as part of an international football match.

The national teams of Russia and Belarus have met each other five times. In all cases, these were friendly matches. The first head—to-head match took place on May 19, 1999 (1-1 draw), and the last one at the moment is on June 7, 2024 (4-0; victory of the Russian national team). So it is quite reasonable for the players of the Belarusian national team to be in a revanchist mood.

In total, the Russian national team scored three wins and drew twice in five head-to-head matches. The Belarusian national team has never beaten the Russian national team in its history.

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With experience in Barcelona

In the current FIFA ranking, the Belarusian national team ranks 98th (41st among the UEFA representative teams). In 2025, the Whiteflies are currently playing only in friendly matches. And very confidently: three matches — three wins with a total score of 11:1. The national teams of Tajikistan (5:0) and Kazakhstan (4:1) defeated, and also scored two unanswered goals for the national team of Azerbaijan (2:0).

Of course, the Belarusians should hardly count on the "continuation of the banquet" with the arrival of the Russian national team, but the form of the last matches may definitely indicate that Carlos Alos's team will definitely not give up without a fight.

Speaking of Alos. This Spanish specialist is still young by coaching standards — 49 years old. In the past, he was a goalkeeper whose career did not go well: he spent only two years at the Spanish club Tortosa (1993-1995). Since 2003, Alos began his coaching career: he worked in youth teams and teams of the lower Spanish leagues (he was even a playing coach at Rocketenka from 2005 to 2007).

Then there's more: three years in the Barcelona youth team (with players under the age of 19), two years in the Kazakhstan youth national team (under 17). Between that, he spent a year in the Polish Chase, and then, perhaps, the most serious challenge at the adult level: Kairat, where he worked from 2017 to 2018 and won the Kazakhstan Cup. Then, in the Spaniard's coaching career, there were less sonorous teams — FAR (Morocco), Qatar SC and Cyprus Enosis. And before joining the national team of Belarus, Alos trained the national team of Rwanda.

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Losses of the Russian national team

Alexey Batrakov, Maxim Osipenko and Maxim Glushenkov will not participate in the match in Minsk due to micro-injuries. The coaching and medical staff of the national team decided not to risk the health of the players and release them to the location of the clubs. Goalkeeper Matvey Safonov returned to the location of the French PSG and began preparations for the club World Cup. It should be noted that in the second half of the friendly match with Nigeria, Safonov lost the ball, making an inaccurate pass, which led to a missed goal.

— There is no football without mistakes, besides, Matvey saved the team several times, — said the former coach of CSKA and the national team Valery Gazzaev. — I think this mistake does not indicate his level. And I want to congratulate him once again on his victory in the Champions League. Andrei Lunev, who spent a stable season with Dynamo, will probably play with Belarus.

"I really want to win this match,— Rostov defender Ilya Vakhania told Izvestia. "What's the score?" As it turns out.

The Belarus – Russia match will be served by the refereeing team led by Sayat Karabaev from Kazakhstan. He will be assisted by compatriots Yuri Tikhonyuk and Dmitry Belogradov. Belarusian Amin Kurgheli was appointed the fourth referee of the meeting.