Belarus vs San Marino Predictions

League D Group 2 of the UEFA Nations League gets underway this weekend as Belarus host San Marino at the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk.

Belarus will be keen to get their Nations League campaign off to the perfect start with a victory over traditional international whipping boys San Marino. Belarussian Head Coach Igor Kriushenko has just a 26%-win rate since taking the national team role last year, though he will expect to improve that percentage on Saturday.

Kriushenko has plumped for experience in his squad, picking twelve players aged thirty or over in his twenty-three man selection. Kriushenko doesn’t see this week’s fixture as a chance for experimentation – there are no uncapped players in the Belarussian squad and Nikita Korzun is the youngest player in their ranks at twenty-three.

Belarus’ last international fixtures was back in early June, when they lost 0-2 in Finland. That was their first defeat in five however after Kriushenko’s men had put together their longest undefeated streak since the end of 2015.

Belarus were impressive in wins against Azerbaijan and Slovenia, and in draws with Hungary and Georgia. Belarus, who are 78^th in FIFA’s latest rankings, have become something of a formidable force at home, losing just two of their last nine inside their borders.

Sweden and the Netherland are the only countries to leave Belarus with a win since September 2015. Belarus held World champions France to a 0-0 draw in Minsk during that period, though the stalemate happened two years’ ago this month in 2016.

San Marino travel to Minsk hoping to avoid losing their twenty second international match on the spin. La Serenissima have only won one match of any description since 2004 and that was in a hybrid friendly against lower-league Italian club side Bellaria Igea a little over four years ago.

San Marino conceded twenty-nine goals in their last five international matches alone and though they are almost certain to lose again on Saturday, on this occasion at least, they shouldn’t fear a battering.

Belarus’ recent form has been good, but they are far from a dangerous goal scoring force. The White Wings haven’t scored more than twice in any match since 2014. The last time they scored three in a single contest was in a 3-2 friendly win against Mexico in November 2014.

Having digested that information, we recommend taking the Belarus & under 3.5 goal option. San Marino have scored just once in their last ten, so Belarus won’t need to register many goals to record a win in their opening Nations League clash. Our correct score prediction is in keeping with that low scoring pattern, and we forecast a 2-0 win for Belarus.

Read More: FST’s Guide to the UEFA Nations League