Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview 19th Round: Sunday, 26 July vs. Torpedo BelAZ

This Sunday in Molodechno, for the dreaded early kick off (we have never won a game that has started at this time), Torpedo BelAZ of Zhodino are the visitors. Torpedo have already beaten us 2-0 this season at their stadium, a game in which Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Ramos starred. Ramos made the first goal, tormenting Svirepa down our left, before finding a team mate who snuck in between the sleeping Mawatu and Nosko to score; the second, Ramos made all himself, comprehensively beating Sadovskiy with a thirty yard shot that exploded into the top right-hand corner of the net, brought a sparse crowd to their feet, and even caused the permanently anxious looking coach Yuri Puntus to crack into a rare smile. Energetik weren't embarrassed on that mid-April Sunday, but were clearly second best against a very well organised and well drilled side.

Zhodino is about thirty miles north east of Minsk, and is a heavily industrialised town. It didn't begin life like that though. The first records of a settlement there are from the early seventeenth century, when it was part of the estates of the Radziwill family, noble descendants of the Lithuanian King Vytautas. This was a tribe of key diplomats, politicians, military actors and landowners throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and it's still quite a famous name in modern-day Poland. The Radziwills presence is felt distantly in contemporary Zhodino; their coat of arms is still the coat of arms of the town.

Zhodino however had a largely sleepy existence until the tumults of Belarus' awful thirty years between 1914 and 1945. After the second world war, the Soviets established the BelAZ truck and heavy vehicle factory and the present town grew up around that. It seems to be a place of Brezhnev-era tower blocks and wide boulevards dominated by it's major employer; one in six of the towns sixty thousand folk are employed by BelAZ, with many others finding work in a large clothes company. Torpedo are quite well resourced, as one in three of the world's mining trucks is made here. The factory makes the biggest mining truck anywhere in the world, which the locals are very proud of; mind-bendingly large, it can shift up to 450 tons in one go. Whilst in Scotland you can tour distilleries, in Belarus you can visit the BelAZ factory for a guided tour, to see how these mechanical leviathans are made. It's not clear if BelAZ do miniatures. There's not a lot else for the visitor to see.

The biggest mining truck in the world, made in Zhodino: the BelAZ-75710

Zhodino is just nine miles south west of Borisov, who are Torpedo's big local rivals, with Smolevichi just over ten miles away in the other direction. This is a little competitive cluster of footballing excellence in the centre of the country, then. Torpedo are by far the oldest of the three sides, though, having been founded as 'Raketa' (Rocket) in 1961 and being granted the right to use the name "Torpedo" eight years later. "Torpedo" was the brand name used for vehicle factory teams throughout the former USSR. In Soviet times the battles between Torpedos Zhodino and Minsk were known as the 'motor factory derby' and many fans of the defunct Minsk club have this season lent their support to their Zhodino namesakes.

The well-remembered Torpedo side from 1981 celebrate success in the Soviet Belarusian regional championship

Since independence, bar a lengthy spell in the second tier in the nineties, Torpedo have been an established top tier club, but have never quite sustained a serious challenge for the league title. Since 2012, Torpedo have finished consistently between fourth and seventh in the table, although they did get their hands on the Belarusian Cup in 2017. This, and a second tier championship, have been their only honours in the years of Belarusian independence.

Forays in Europe have been brief- their last outing saw them dismissed without much trouble by Rapid Vienna, 3-0 in the Austrian capital after a goalless draw in Belarus. This then is a club that seems content being quite competitive, and being present in the top division, but not overly troubled to actually push on and win things. There's certainly potential for the side to push on and do so, if they are so minded.

The Belarusian Roy Hodgson

Torpedo's head coach is the vastly experienced Yuri Puntus. Now approaching sixty, Puntus has been in and around coaching in Belarus in one form or another for nearly thirty years, and is perhaps the most recognisable league manager of them all, having spent almost his entire career in his home country. Like so many successful managers, Puntus had a modest playing career with smaller sides such as Traktor Minsk and Granit Mikashevichi. His first coaching position was at defunct Luch Minsk in the 1990/91 season, but he is best remembered as the manager that drove BATE Borisov's revival, between their re-foundation in 1996 and his departure in 2004. Puntus personally oversaw BATE's rise from the second tier to consistent champions and cup-winners and is an important part of the Borisov club's history. For part of this period, he was also head coach of the Belarus under-21 side, and later, for just over a year, was the national team coach during 2006/7.

Since then Puntus has been happy working in the first and second tiers of the Belarusian league. He enjoyed further success with defunct Partizan (MTZ-RIPO) Minsk, winning the cup there in 2008; a lengthy stint with Dinamo Brest, then with Smolevichi, then four years at Slavia Mozyr. Last year Puntus laid the foundations for Belshina Bobruisk's second tier title, taking charge of twenty or so games before leaving for the Torpedo job in September 2019, leaving Eduard Gradoboyev to clean up at the end of the season. One wonders how much better Belshina would have fared this season with Puntus at the helm.

A much younger Yuri Puntus in a *very* 1990s tracksuit

Since taking the job Puntus has made this Torpedo side in his own image. Puntus is a man who likes it simple, and in an article in the tribuna.by portal this week, cheerfully admitted that he had little use for tactics. His favoured system is 4-4-2 and that wavers only rarely, as in recent games. His training and coaching is set up for players to feel comfortable in that system; at times this season Torpedo have looked rather over-drilled, and lacking a little in the creative side of things. As an elder statesman he now leaves the spread-sheets and sports science to others on his staff; his main role is as a motivator and man-manager. He has a simple enjoyment of attacking football, and sets up his side to try and deliver entertainment as much as points.

I like Puntus. There's something old school about him and he seems a genuinely kindly person. When the eyes of the footballing world were turned, wide with astonishment, to the Belarusian league as it played on alone in March, the Torpedo manager went out of the way in interviews to praise the courage of the fans who still chose to attend games, and to emphasise how valuable he personally found their support, as the world melted down around us all. He seems a modest and self-effacing character a mile away from the designer-suited dugout holograms of the Premiership, referring to themselves in the third person, speaking of their desire to be "market leaders". He does remind me a little of Roy Hodgson, and his recent spells at Fulham and Crystal Palace. And right now, he's on track to deliver Torpedo's customary sixth placed (or thereabout) finish.

If there's a note of doubt about this most experienced of coaches, it is that, with such a squad and a well-resourced ownership, Torpedo should perhaps be doing a bit better.  

A Slowly Deflating Whoopee Cushion of a Season

Gabriel Ramos dinks between Nosko and Tweh in April

Torpedo started the league season really brightly, and suggested that they may be capable of a top three finish. Admittedly Shakhtyor put paid to their cup hopes with home and away defeats in the quarter finals in March, but Torpedo enjoyed a handsome revenge on the opening day of the league season. Having absorbed what might be described as a "pummelling" at the Stroitel, lesser sides would have smirked and accepted a slightly lucky point from a scoreless draw. Not so Torpedo, who through a bit of marvellous invention and skill from Gabriel Ramos, snatched the points in the last moments of injury time, the Brazilian firing a long range effort across the keeper and high into the net.

That set the agenda for Torpedo for the first few games. Home wins over Belshina and ourselves sandwiched a surprisingly slipshod and pisspoor performance at the Dinamo stadium in Minsk, where an overly-conservative Torpedo succumbed 2-0. However, that loss precipitated a run of six unbeaten, with a 5-2 demolition of last week's conquerors, FC Minsk, being the highlight.  A 3-1 success at the Torpedo stadium, over gubbins village outfit Gorodeya in mid-May, saw Torpedo holding down second place, and seemingly in good order for a league title challenge.

Then the corona rumours started. Whispers on twitter and portals suggested that many of Torpedo's backroom staff and regular goalkeeper Vladimir Bushma had contracted the virus. Nothing was ever confirmed or denied, and Torpedo did not postpone any of their games. The beginning of this period was a 1-3 defeat in Grodno, where Torpedo really looked a shadow of their normal selves.

Thus began a very patchy run of nine games, right up until the present, where the side has only won twice, and performed very moderately compared to its potential. The wins came against a poor Smolevichi, and a hard fought arm wrestle with Vitebsk, both at home. Particularly painful was a 1-4 demolition by title chasing Shahktyor, a result which served only to underline how big the gap was between where Torpedo have found themselves, and where the title might be...certainly over the horizon, as far as Puntus' side are concerned, on that evidence. In the last two outings, Torpedo were absolutely rotten and complacent away, against Belshina, losing 1-2 against the bottom side, whilst last Sunday's abysmal scoreless draw at home to Dinamo Minsk was little more than itchy mind-fungus.

During this poor run Torpedo have looked disjointed; they look good approaching the goal but things are either over-embellished or malfunctioning once they get to the final third of the park. There's a breakdown somewhere up front that's hard to put the finger on. Just five goals in the last six games shows how much work there is to be done on Torpedo's finishing. There's a need for them to be a little more direct, rather than try and walk the ball into the net every time. In this context, the loss of second-top scorer Valeri Gorbachik to Latvian side FK Liepaja, this week, may be no bad thing, enabling Puntus to shuffle things about up front.

Regular goalkeeper Bushma, a man with nearly three hundred Belarusian league games under his belt, started the first eight games but then vanished, reportedly because of coronavirus. Bushma re-appeared briefly in the 2-2 draw with Isloch but otherwise hasn't made a match day squad for two months. Replacing the incapacitated Bushma has been young Russian goalkeeper Aleksey Kozlov. He's moved about quite a bit already for a young man, having had spells in Latvian and Lithuanian football before signing for Torpedo from Russian third tier side Irtysh Omsk in the July 2019 transfer window. Kozlov has looked pretty good, commanding his box confidently and a useful shot-stopper. Bushma is coming to the end of a long career in any case, so it is a good time for Kozlov to perform consistently and establish himself for a few years in this team.

Belarusian international Maksym Bordachev

Puntus' back four has been reasonably successful. Left back Maksym Bordachev is a full Belarusian international with over forty caps in a decade of service to the national team. He's on a season long loan from Shahktyor and has top level Russian experience with Tom Tomsk, FC Rostov and FK Orenburg on his CV, so it's quite surprising Shahktyor have no use for such an experienced player. Russian Dmitry Yashin has featured recently at right back although can also play in the centre, and as a sweeper. This versatile twenty seven year old signed at the beginning of the 2020 season from the collapsing shambles of the now defunct Dnyapro Mogilev.

Another Russian, Vitali Ustinov, is also a right back to trade but lined up in the middle of defence against Dynamo last Sunday. He signed for Torpedo from Kazakh side Atyrau in March, having served previously big names such as Rubin Kazan and Rotor Volgograd in his home country. The final defensive regular capable of turning out at right back or at centre half is Vladimir Shcherbo, who is now in his fifth season with Torpedo, having previously served Dinamo Brest, Dnepr Mogilev and Orenburg in Russia. Clearly, then, we're up against a battle-hardened and resourceful defence who've conceded just twenty goals so far this term.

Torpedo skipper Alexey Khachaturyan

In midfield, the work of captain and long serving defensive midfielder Andrey Khachaturyan perhaps doesn't get the credit that it should.  He sits deep and works as an effective link man on the left side of midfield, breaking up attacks and moving the ball on. Andrey is now in his fifth season at Torpedo, having previously had spells at Neman, Belshina and FK Minsk. Alongside him Nikita Kaplenko is quite effective as a defensive midfielder, having signed for Puntus in the winter having been let go by Dynamo Minsk.

Lipe Veloso, on loan from PFK Lviv (Ukraine)

The players that are the most talked about in this side are the Brazilian contingent, however. Nippy central midfielder Lipe Veloso was brought in on loan from PFK Lviv at the beginning of the season and has built a very strong reputation in the league; he has a turn of pace and, as he showed recently against Belshina, can be quite deadly from free kicks. Veloso has contributed three goals in fifteen appearances this season and is one of the main sources of ammunition for the forwards. Recent signing and fellow Brazilian Matheus Maresche joined Torpedo a fortnight ago from FK Riga and made his debut last Sunday alongside Veloso. It's hard to assess a player after a fleeting appearance in a terrible game.

The best known of these, of course, and Torpedo's one genuine sprinkling of stardust, is Gabriel Ramos. When Torpedo started the season so brightly Ramos was a regular in the ABFF's team of the week and he did hit some early and spectacular goals. However overall, I feel that he has not had the impact that he could have had. Ramos, who signed in March after two years with Georgian outfit Dinamo Batumi, is dripping ability and talent but for me a player like this should be dictating and running games, not just floating around ornamentally on top of them, chipping in the odd delightful pass and spectacular step over or nutmeg.

Gabriel Ramos in action at Soligorsk

One of the conundrums for Torpedo has been how to get such a gifted individual to fit into a team structure rather than embellishing it whilst playing as an individual. It's a difficult problem for Puntus to solve and it's no coincidence that Torpedo's recent quite patchy run has coincided with a dip in form for Ramos. An automatic choice in a Vysseyshaya Liga eleven when at his best,  Ramos, like all mavericks, is also capable of lengthy periods of invisibility. Despite these reservations he has six goals this season for his club and I am sure will hit form again soon.

Now that Gorbachik has departed for Latvia, it seems that Yuri Puntus will turn to young forward Dmitri Antilevski to fill those shoes. Antilevski was a very promising young forward and netted six times in eleven under-21 caps for Belarus. Since those times, however, the striker has fallen a bit from favour. Now 23, he was released at the end of last term by Dynamo Minsk, and has come to Zhodino to try and kick start a stalled career. An important half-season lies ahead for Antilevski.

Striker Dmitri Antilevski in the colours of BATE II, where his career started

As we've seen Torpedo have a very strong and experienced squad on paper. The last few games have been quite poor by their standards, as Puntus has rifled around different tweaks and midfield permutations to try and find a solution to their downturn. The wily old manager will have identified the trip to Molodechno as a good opportunity to get his side's campaign back on track, and as a result we will need to be very wary.

I've given up making predictions, really, after the last two weeks. We still have a lot of learning to do about our new players and how they might fit into to a match day group disrupted by departures. I hope to see Miroshnikov return and Mawatu move into the middle of the park; I'd rather see new signing Osnov tried out as a wing back than watch another defensive turn from the Frenchman. I also feel Haïk didn't really work up front, so would pair Bakić with Yudchits again. It'd be interesting to see Haïk paired with Nosko in the middle of the park. I fear we are asking too much too soon from Bashilov.

Personally, I'll be happy with a point on Sunday, just to stop the recent rot, but fear that Torpedo will sneak away with all three, with a single goal win. We shall see.

The main stand of Torpedo's Stadium

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @DreadlocksGleb