Belarus – Romania

Belarus and Romania are unlikely to please spectators with effective football

For known reasons, the match of Group I of European qualification between Israel and Switzerland will not take place as scheduled. In this regard, the Romanian team will have a chance to win the first place and get a psychological advantage over the rivals before the finish line of the continental selection. Now the Romanians are two points behind the leading Swiss and one point ahead of the catching-up Israelis. Belarus in this group is among the teams that have no claims to anything. The company of the Slavic team is Kosovo and Andorra. The rivals have already met in Bucharest in the current selection. The match took place at the end of March and by the 19th minute, it seemed, left on the field one real contender for victory. The Romanians took a 2-0 lead, but switched to pragmatic football too soon and got one back in the 86th minute, tickling the nerves of their fans. The upcoming match will be held in Budapest, Hungary, so the Belarusian team will be virtually deprived of the support of the home stands. Bookmakers have identified the nominal guests as the favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.56 on their victory. The Belarusian national team has become one of the worst teams in Europe in recent years. In the World Cup qualification in 2021, the Belarusian team finished last in one of the weakest qualifying groups, leaving behind even Estonia. The team's failures continued in 2022, when in the same company with Slovakia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, it failed to win a single game, dropping into League D to teams of the level of Gibraltar and San Marino. In the current qualifying tournament, Belarus lost four out of six matches, beating Kosovo and sharing points with dwarf Andorra. Romania has not yet lost in the current qualifying tournament. The main achievement of the team is a phenomenal draw in Switzerland. The Romanians were losing to the group favourites 0:2 by the 89th minute of the game, but managed to score two goals in three minutes and gain one point. After that epic match, the Romanians shared points with Israel and beat Kosovo at home. Belarus is not a worthy opponent for Iordanescu's team on a neutral pitch.