One-Striker Theater: how Russia won against Belarus
The Russian national football team has won an away friendly match against Belarus. On Tuesday evening, at the new stadium in Minsk, our team prevailed with a score of 4:1 — striker Yaroslav Gladyshev scored all four goals for the Russians.
The new Arena
The interval between the matches in Minsk between Belarusians and Russians was one year and two days. But the locations were different. On June 8, 2024, our national team won 4-0 at the Dynamo National Olympic Stadium, which was built in Soviet times and hosted several matches of the 1980 Olympics.
Since then, this arena with a capacity of 22,000 spectators has been undergoing reconstruction and does not look outdated, but still there were certain signs of old school in it - running and athletics tracks around the field, which are no longer present in almost any similar facility built in the 21st century.
And by the summer of 2025, a National football stadium was built in Minsk. This happened with the help of the People's Republic of China, which was directly involved in the design of the facility and invested in it. It is no coincidence that on June 7, at the opening ceremony of the arena, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko thanked his Chinese partners several times for such a gift.
The new stadium is purely football, without running tracks. It holds more than 33,000 spectators and is made according to the latest UEFA standards, having received the fourth category from the football organization, which gives the right to host matches of the final stages of the World Cup, Europe, Champions League, Europa League and European Super Cup.
Unlike the Dynamo National Olympic Stadium, which is located near the Minsk railway station, the new arena is located much further away, which makes it slightly less convenient for visiting fans, but with the metro nearby, this does not cause any major problems.
The local public, the players and coaches of the national team of Belarus, as well as the heads of the football federation and sports officials were looking forward to the first match at the National Football Stadium. And it took place on June 10, when Russia arrived.
A quick defeat
On the eve of our team's departure to Minsk, goalkeeper Matvey Safonov left the team after playing in Friday's 1-1 home match against Nigeria. Soon he arrived at his club PSG, with whom he flew to the USA for the upcoming club World Cup.
Andrei Lunev took his place in the goal for the game against Belarus. Also, Alexey Batrakov, Maxim Glushenkov, Maxim Osipenko and Danil Krugovoy did not reach Minsk from the participants of the match with Nigeria — they all had micro-injuries, and the head coach of the Russian national team, Valery Karpin, decided not to risk their health.
CSKA defender Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov joined the starting line—up for the match against Belarus - it was his debut match for the national team. He played the whole half and was replaced at half-time by Turpal-Ali Ibishev, who played for the national team for the first time back in March against Grenada.
But Yaroslav Gladyshev quickly became the main character of the meeting, scoring three goals in the first 33 minutes of the match. No one in the Russian national team has ever scored such a quick hat-trick as the Dynamo Moscow striker. It cannot be said that Belarusians did not put up serious resistance.
They made good attacks several times, but it didn't lead to anything before the break. In the second half, Gladyshev scored his fourth goal in the 51st minute. Immediately, the hosts were able to close the gap in the score - Vadim Pigas scored. There were no more goals in the remaining time. Russia has defeated Belarus again and will not play a friendly match until autumn next time. Iran and Argentina are among the possible rivals.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
