Belarus doesn't want to stop, and Saturday's matches brought the best of their domestic football.
With both Belarus' major teams, BATE Borisov and Dynamo Brest playing today, as well as cup holders Shakhtyor Soligorsk, we had a chance to watch some of the league's highest quality.
In the end, there is only a three-point difference between the 1st place and the 14th place.
Dynamo Brest – Shakhtyor Soligorsk
In the main match, reigning champions Dynamo Brest hosted Shakhtyor Soligorsk. Both teams had a disappointing season opening, and today it was a chance to search for points.
Shakhtyor Soligorsk scored first in the 25th minute when a cross from the left by Nikola Antić came all the way to his Serbian teammate, Igor Ivanović. The striker kicked it in, and Shakhtyor took the lead. Dynamo Brest had a few close chances to equalize the score in the first half but failed time after time. In the 67th minute, Shakhtyor hit the net again, as Ivanović dribbled in the box, passed to Kirill Yankovskiy, and the 20-year-old player scored his debut league goal. Dynamo Brest was still looking for the goal, but none of their 25 goal attempts in the match were any successful. Shakhtyor Soligorsk won 2-0.
On Wednesday, both teams will face each other again in the second leg of the Belarusian Cup semifinal, as Dynamo Brest won 2-0 in the first leg.
Gorodeya – BATE Borisov
BATE Borisov is still aiming for the title, although they need to recover from last week’s draw against Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino. They traveled today to play against Gorodeya.
BATE manager Kirill Alshevsky decided to make a few changes in his lineup, most significantly leaving two of his key players, Pavel Nekhaychik and Stanislav Dragun, on the bench. BATE was better but didn't manage to score in the first half. During the second half, both players were subbed in, and BATE became more dominant. In the 73rd minute, the ball was deflected from a Gorodeya defender straight to Dragun, who scored his 3rd goal this season. In additional time, BATE created a quick counter-attack - Anton Saroka got the ball alone in front of the goalkeeper, who stood 30 meters from his goal. Saroka chipped the ball directly to the net and scored.
BATE won 2-0, and now they can concentrate on their next mission – defeating Slavia Mozyr in the Belarusian Cup semifinal second leg.
Slavia Mozyr – FC Minsk
With the crucial cup match against BATE Borisov looming ahead on Wednesday, Slavia Mozyr hosted FC Minsk. The team from the Belarusian capital lost their last three games and wanted to end this streak today.
FC Minsk was much more dominant in the match, as Slavia defenders could do nothing against them. In the 30th minute, a long-range kick by Anton Shramchenko hit the post, Roman Gribovskiy latched on the rebound and scored. The second goal was scored less than a minute from kickoff, as Gribovskiy passed a long ball to Yaroslav Yarotsky, who scored easily. Vladislav Zhuk gave Slavia a bit of hope, as he scored in the 79th minute, but it lasted for only three minutes. Slavia defenders made another mistake, Ognjen Rolović took the ball, passed it to Artyom Vasilyev, who scored and kicked off Minsk’s celebrations.
With a 3-1 win, FC Minsk can feel more comfortable in the mid-table. Slavia Mozyr is struggling in the bottom.
