Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview 20th Round: Sunday, 2 August vs. FC Gorodeya

Well, it's that time folks- the preview I'd hoped never to have to write. Yes, this week, our team travels to play gubbins village outfit Gorodeya at their stadium. Casual readers of my speciously prolix waffle may have wondered why the seemingly harmless little club has attracted such loathing...the roots of that are in our home defeat to them earlier in the season. Kicking off under a beautiful Minsk rainbow at the Energetik stadium, unfortunately there was to be no pot of gold at full time for us. Yakshiboev, Mawatu, Tweh and Atemeng all blazed over or wide when well placed, whilst the visitors took the lead from their only attack of the opening half, through a nice finish from Andrey Sorokin. The second period was a brutal, staccato, mind numbing failure, with vinegar poured into the cut through Gorodeya's unwatchable blend of play-acting and bus-parking. A game that we should have won 4 or 5-1 was lost. It's been hard to view them in a kindly light since.

But, wait. Regulars will be shocked that this preview is quite positive on the gubbins village outfit. I'll explain why below.

Refining a Football Club

Gorodeya's sugar refinery, founders and funders of the football club

Gorodeya (Haradzea in the Belarusian spelling) is a small village of just over 4,000 souls, about sixty miles south-west of Minsk, travelling in the direction of Brest. It is dominated by a massive sugar refinery to the west of the settlement, which underpins the local economy, and which founded and owns the local football club. Gorodeya sugars are familiar all over Belarus and in neighbouring Russia, and recently the Chinese have been making encouraging noises about importing Belarusian sugar from this part of the country.

This place started as an agricultural hamlet in the sixteenth century. Although there's not too much to see- you know you're up against it when the fourth biggest tourist attraction is a sculpture of a bison ten kilometres away-it seems to be an old world place, with many wooden houses and small, traditional Catholic and Orthodox cathedrals; some of these old structures date back to the Tsar's time. Gorodeya was badly damaged in World War One and subsequently, after the Polish-Soviet skirmishes in the early 20s, found itself as a border town in Eastern Poland, before reverting to the Soviet Union in 1939, in the same way as Brest.

Bison : Ten Kilometres away

It's good to see these traditional wooden buildings surviving, as so many villages such as this were looted and burned to the ground, with their populace, by the Nazis in the 1941-44 period. (The Soviet Belarusian author Ades Adamovich wrote about these unimaginable horrors in his books The Khatyn Story and Out of the Fire in the 1970s, and co-wrote the screenplay with Elen Klimov for the almost unwatchable war epic Come and See in the 1980s). During the second war the town's entire Jewish population- over a thousand people or one in three of the population- were murdered within a year, by the Nazis.


Such bitter memories, suffering and tragedy cast a very long shadow. However, these days Gorodeya looks like a nice small place to visit for a day out from somewhere else; set in lovely countryside for a walk, and with enough in the village to detain you for at least an hour before the game. In the post-war and independence years this place re-built itself as an agricultural centre. Around the turn of the century, the directors of the Gorodeya Sugar refinery decided that it might be a good idea to found a football club. It was decided at the outset that the club colours should be white, reflecting the club's sugar origins, and green, the colour of the sugar beet grown to feed the factory.

Tentative steps were taken under the name Sukhkombinat (Sugar Co-Operative), before FC Gorodeya came into being as a team in the Minsk regional league in 2004. There has been steady progress since. The team, initially made up of workers from the plant, progressed through amateur football to the third tier of the national leagues in 2008; following promotion to the Pershaya Liga, as third tier champions, the club turned fully professional in 2011. This is their fifth season at the top level, following promotion as Pershaya Liga runners up in 2015. In the last three seasons, finishes of 7th, 7th and 9th have seen them establish themselves as a reliable mid-table side. This season's struggles are an uncharacteristic brush with relegation, a fate which has yet to befall this robust little club in sixteen years.

It's become a real institution in this part of the country, running football schools and an emerging youth system, embedding itself amongst kids across a wide area in central Belarus through outreach and help for those disadvantaged, and enjoys a really good support for such a small settlement. The raucous delight that greeted the late recent home win over Belshina was evidence of that. Gorodeya is just over half the size of Brechin, the smallest town in Scotland to have a football league club. I guess from the point of view of the club's staff and owners, in regard to the style of play, they will rightly feel that the end- survival- justifies the means. For them, five unbroken years in the Belarusian top flight is a remarkable success.

Summer sunshine and sprinklers at the Gorodeya stadium

A Season of Gubbins

Gorodeya have had a somewhat strange season. Having been humiliated last season by lower league Lokomotiv Gomel in the cup, they didn't kick off until the league started in late March. A couple of narrow defeats opened the campaign against Vitebsk and Shahktyor, before a run of three successive 1-0 victories; a lucky one against Belshina in Bobruisk, an even luckier one as discussed against ourselves, and a downright hilarious one at home against Sergei Gurenko's appalling Dinamo Minsk side. That was the game marked by the red carding of the dissolute Brazilian maverick Danilo, who was subsequently picture sitting on a log by the side of the pitch, bored out of his skull on his phone. Little wonder that Gurenko was soon given his jotters after this turgid defeat, and even smaller wonder that Danilo has moved to warmer climes in search of further red cards- he's at Limassol in Cyprus.

Danilo : log

The laughter has long since faced for Gorodeya, though. Since that lucky winning streak, they have only managed two further successes in their last fourteen outings- relegation form by any measure.   The nadir of this sequence was a waking-up-screaming-sweating-profusely nightmare against Aleksandr Brazevich's Smolevichi, who trounced Gorodeya 4-1; a similar scoreline in the return game at the Stroitel against Shahktyor well illustrated the huge gulf between the villagers, and the league's best teams. Although there have been some good recent moments, notably a 3-0 trouncing of Slutsk in the so-called "Sugar Derby", Gorodeya have been through a really tough couple of months.

Whispers that the sugar factory were struggling to fund the club and rumours of managerial pay cuts circulated a few weeks ago. Amusingly, after that, a counter-story trended stating that fresh funds had been made available by the owners to help the club out of a deepening relegation mire. Two of the bigger earners left; Milan Joksimović, the Serbian left back, had a dramatic last game in the home win over Belshina before leaving for FK Liepaja in Latvia; long standing captain Kirill Pavlyuchenko, who had been at Gorodeya for five seasons, moved on to try his luck with Slavia Mozyr.  These were the first inklings of a squad being re-shaped.   

Gorodeya line up for the first home game of the season against Shahktyor (0-2 loss)

A Gubbins Gallery of Rogues

Oleg Radushko has been Gorodeya's head coach since last June. The club has had a complicated recent relationship with the Belarusian under-21 side. Former manager Sergei Yaromko, who had been in charge for almost six years, left Gorodeya to take on the national 21s job last June; Radushko, who had been assistant to Yaromko, took the job a day later, moving in the opposite direction to his former club boss, and leaving a post as under-21 assistant. He started well as the club's head coach, guiding Gorodeya to a highest ever-finish of seventh, missing out on the top six by just a single point. This season, however, has been a difficult second album for the manager.

Gorodeya boss Oleg Radushko

Radushko, after a long playing career, learned his trade as assistant manager for four seasons at Neman Grodno, and then after that at Yaromko's side in Gorodeya. He's instinctively cautious, lining his team up in a 4-2-3-1 shape in an ideal scenario or, more recently as the squad has begun to shift around, in a defensive 4-4-2, the same shape favoured by Yuri Puntus at Torpedo.

Club captain, goalkeeper Igor Dovgyallo

Radushko is lucky to be able to call on the services of one of the best goalkeepers in the league, and one of the few Gorodeya players I'd love to see at Energetik. 35-year-old Igor Dovgyallo may be approaching "veteran" status but he's a reliable and consistent performer. Gorodeya have let thirty goals through this season but it is hard to remember many, if any, that the keeper was at fault for. His save in a one on one situation with Belshina's Leonid Kovel two weeks ago happened at a critical moment and typified the dogged stopper's season. An ever-present, Dovgyallo is one of the most recognisable of the current squad, enjoying a late career at the top level having spent most of his time in the second and third tiers in Belarus; he joined Dnepr Mogilev and then came to Gorodeya in 2018 when that club began to implode. The goalkeeper has recently taken on the club captaincy.

Kirill Pavlyuchenko left Gorodeya recently for Slavia Mozyr

Gorodeya's regular defence has had to be shuffled after the recent departures of Joksimović and Pavlyuchenko. Amongst the noteworthy regular performers are current Belarusian full international Aleksandr Poznyak, a centre half; he has however amassed four yellow cards after being booked in last week's murderously dull single goal reverse at Dinamo, so will have to sit our game out. His regular partner at centre-back is Semyon Shestilovski, another steady enough player who moved back and fourth like a shuttlecock in a long badminton rally between Dinamo and Gorodeya on repeated loans, before finally making the move permanent in 2018. Left back Dmitri Baiduk is another constant in Radushko's back four; he's a capable former under-21 player.

In the middle of the park, left-sided Denis Yaskovich is one of the defensive midfielders, sitting in front of the back four and breaking up play; he counts ourselves, Slavia and Torpedo amongst his former clubs. Yuri Volovik, now into his fifth season at Gorodeya, is his preferred partner in right defensive midfield. Even if you haven't seen Gorodeya this season, the last two paragraphs show just how firm a defensive foundation Oleg Radushko likes build his teams upon.

Recent signing from Lida, Yan Senkevich, in the colours of Belshina

Radushko is no Kuchuk, though, in that he actually sees the value of attacking. Gorodeya do have two or three players really worthy of watching. Technically, the club's top scorer is Yan Senkevich, who was signed three weeks ago having bagged ten from twelve starts with Lida in the second tier. Senkevich is only twenty five yet already has eight former clubs on his footballing CV, which can suggest a temperament problem to those wanting to sign him. However he seems to have fitted in well with his new manager's plans and has contributed two assists in his first two appearances for the club, and seems set to do well in sugar country if he can actually settle down and get a few appearances under his belt in one place.

Attacking midfielder Lazar Sajčić

Attackers that are just as dangerous but have a bit more experience are also available for Gorodeya. A stand out player for me has been the Serbian winger-cum-attacking midfielder Lazar Sajčić, a virtual ever-present with six goals to his name this term. Sajčić is nippy and direct, and a useful signing for Gorodeya from Ceske Budejovice in the Czech league. It was he who set up Andrei Sorokin to score his winner against us in April, with a fine run down our left and cross. The Russian Sergei Arkhipov, meanwhile, has the same number of goals as his Serb team-mate and works more as an out and out striker. He may have lost the family derby at Shahktyor recently (twin brother Artem turns out for the potash barons) but is enjoying a productive spell in Gorodeya on a season-loan from lowly Russian Premier League side FK Tambov.

Gorodeya may not be the world's most thrilling side to watch, but that's not to say they have poor players. It's quite a surprise to see them so low in the table; just a point ahead of FC Minsk, having played two games more. Oleg Radushko has problems in getting some kind of consistent winning run going, and will have identified this fixture as an ideal opportunity to put some daylight between the Sugar Boys and a pretty poor Minsk side. Pretty clearly, the club's owners sanctioned the signing of Senkevich and a re-shuffle of the squad to ensure that top league status is maintained. After this game Gorodeya face a free-hit trip to Borisov where BATE are developing an ominous momentum, before welcoming unpredictable Rukh to the village after the break for the presidential election. They will see this as a banker, then, with two difficult games ahead in the league, in August.

Russian Andrey Sorokin scored against us in April. 

What will also encourage Gorodeya is that they seem to be our "bogey team". We have not beaten Gorodeya since a narrow home victory over them in the Pershaya Liga back in 2015. Since then, Gorodeya have won four of our last five encounters in league and cup, with a solitary point from a goal-less draw last June at home being our only solace in this barren sequence of results. I think most Energetik fans would be delighted with a dreadfully boring game and a point this weekend.

So, I'm going to predict a 0-0 draw and leave it at that. We're the last game of the weekend and fully expect most English-speaking Belarusian fans to be taking a great interest in making dinner, or doing something infinitely more interesting like a thorough re-arrangement of their sock drawer, in preference to watching this. I hope that the coaches will have decided on a settled line up and will stick with it, come what may, for a few weeks. After an awful series of performances in recent weeks, some stability and calm is urgently needed by all associated with Energetik.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @DreadlocksGleb

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

Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview 18th Round: Sunday, 19 July vs. FC Minsk

Well, the show must go on. After last weekend's horrific implosion against Rukh Brest, a Hieronymous-Bosch-style nightmare that will scar the imaginary of Energetik devotees for some time to come, cognitive behavioural therapy comes in the form of a short visit to one of FC Minsk's many stadiums (the Traktor, I think, where we have already won against Isloch this campaign). It seems a good time to be visiting FCM, as they are marooned at the bottom of the current form table, having taken just two points from their last six games. It's only thanks to the poor first half of the season endured by Smolevichi and Belshina that FC Minsk are still as high as fourteenth in the table, but after last weekend's results they can feel the heavy breathing of both back markers catching up at their shoulders.

FC Minsk were officially formed in 2006, but Belarusian football clubs lie about their age as often as the late Zsa-Zsa Gabor did. Actually, the roots of this team are in a Soviet youth football club founded in 1954, and which spent its time developing youth players until the late 1980s. The Soviets poured a lot of money into the club, encouraging them with investment at various stages, including the building of an "unparalleled" multi-pitch training complex in the early eighties, by which time the club was subordinated to the Minsk Olympic Committee. Under the name Smena ("Change"), the club began to appear at senior level from 1987 onwards and was in a good position to push on as the old USSR fell apart at the beginning of the following decade. 

Smena continued as a club which developed young players and sold them on in the 1990s, with varying degrees of success. Many of the top Belarusian players of that era passed through the club's hands at some point and for a period the legendary Eduard Malofeev was the head coach. By the mid-2000s a re-brand was decided upon, and the first team from 2006 became known as FC Minsk. "Smena" continued as the club's second string in the lower leagues, but soon disbanded and became lost in the pages of history.

FC Minsk have enjoyed moderate success since their formation at the highest level. Their best finish in the top flight was third in 2010, a campaign in which present manager Andrei Razin top-scored. They won the Belarusian cup in 2013 and embarked on a European campaign that saw them beat Malta's FC Valetta and Scottish Cup winners St. Johnstone on penalties, at MacDiarmid Park. Since those high points under former coach Vadim Skripchenko, they have settled into a largely mid-table suburban existence. This season, therefore, sees the first big challenge to their top flight status since they were relegated in 2007 and promoted back within a season, being members of the Belarusian top flight since.

The smart new FK Minsk stadium, opened in 2015 at the southern end of the city centre

There's a lot to admire about the current FC Minsk. They have a brand-new, smart stadium opened in 2015, with an artificial surface which means, eccentrically, that they can't use it for half the season for first team games (this is owing to an odd ban on artificial surfaces in June, July and August by the ABFF that no-one has been able to explain). They also have access to the ageing Traktor with its' grass surface, and use defunct Torpedo's currently abandoned stadium as a training base. FC Minsk's new ground, the Traktor, Energetik's ground and Dinamo's refurbished stadium are all within a five-kilometre radius of one another between the city centre and Leninyski Raion to the south; FC Minsk's new HQ is right at the southern edge of this circle.

FCMs 17s on their way to second spot in the country's youth championship, against BATE. FCM lost out on penalties after a hard fought 2-2 draw. The Belarusian youth leagues see graduates perfect the "theatrical dive having not been touched" at an early stage.

They have a great community-facing set up, with, as their website boasts proudly, over 1,000 people involved in age group teams all the way up to the senior team, and a highly successful womens' team, the Glasgow City of Belarus, national champions seven times in a row. FC Minsk are known throughout Belarus for having the best youth development system with excellent, thoughtful coaching and a broader infrastructure that leaves nothing to chance, with nearly seven decades of youth development wired into the club's founding DNA.

Then there's the first team.

Management : Big Jackets but few Big Ideas

It's often hard for someone who was a legend as a player to translate that success into management. This is a difficulty that forty year old head coach Andrei Razin is having presently. Razin first signed for FC in 2009 and played well over one hundred times for the club before retiring as a player in 2014.  As a player, Razin was part of a title-winning Dinamo squad, and nearly a decade later captained FC Minsk to a penalty shoot out success over his former club, in the Belarusian cup final of 2013.

Beginning as player-assistant manager of the club's second string, he rose through the coaching ranks to assist two previous managers from 2015/16, taking the job himself at the beginning of 2019. Last season's finish of tenth marked a moderate first season. Razin failed to win any of his first ten games in charge, and after that FCM were consistently inconsistent. The club did have it's moments, most notably a 3-2 defeat of BATE in Minsk at the beginning of September, a result that prized at least two of the Borisov fingers off the league trophy. Strangely, Energetik came closest to "doing a Rukh" on Razin's side, demolishing them 6-1 at their place just three weeks after their BATE triumph.

Razin : Spectral Presence

Things have taken a significant turn for the worse since FC's entertaining mood swings of last campaign. Razin got off to a bright start with an easy win over Belshina followed by a topsy-turvy odd-goal-in-five triumph at home over Sergei Gurenko's appalling Dinamo Minsk side. Then followed a run of three pretty miserable defeats, including a two goal loss to ourselves, as FC tumbled down the table. During these games Razin cut an increasingly spectral, haunted figures, face buried in his oversized Macron jacket, seemingly at a loss as to what to do for the best. A surprisingly easy win against a poor Slavia at the Yusnost was the last for FC in their own personal "before times".

Sadly, by this stage, the club's first team was blighted by coronavirus. Two further matches came before FC, after a stand off with a typically callous association, called their bluff, and shut up shop for the rest of May. It was the first visible evidence of the impact of the virus on ordinary people in Belarus for those following the league from afar. It made a mockery, for the domestic supporters, of Lukashenko's claims that fresh air and physcial exercise were the best defence against coronavirus, and that it only affected the elderly and the deserving unfit idler.

FC's re-emergence with  a win over Slutsk in a very dull game at the Traktor stadium, at the beginning of June, was a little emotional for those around the world who had started following their fortunes. It seems however that COVID has cast a long shadow over the club in their subsequent barren spell; that triumph against Slutsk was the beginning of their latest, long winless run. On top of this, whispers persist that FC don't have any money, and nearly didn't start this season.

Whilst their youth teams enjoy wide support this doesn't translate into a regular following for their first team, which has consistently low crowds. Unable to tap into the slumbering latent fanbases of Partizan and Torpedo, or to challenge seriously the ascendancy of Dinamo in the capital city, FC still have to work out what their senior team is really for, and who their target audience is. For all the dignity and calm he has shown in leading the club in such difficult and troubled times, it remains far from clear whether Razin is a long term answer for FC Minsk's seniors.

The conundrum of any successful FC Minsk head coach will be to translate the success of their youth set-ups into consistent performances from their top league team, playing attractive and successful football. For all his knowledge of the club garnered after over a decade of service, Razin doesn't look very close to delivering on that. At present, sadly, FC are unattractive to watch and rarely successful.

A Goalscorer, My Kingdom for a Goalscorer

As implied in the turgid metanarrative above, FC Minsk have been a hard watch for most of this season. Whilst quite strong defensively, they lack firepower, a situation much worsened by the end of the loan of young Dinamo Minsk forward Vladimir Khvashchinski. Vladimir had scored five goals for FC in the first round of matches and has yet to be replaced.

Goalkeeper Sergei Veremko captains Belarus at the Stade de France in September 2012. France won the World Cup qualifier 3-1.

Artem Leonov has been the regular no. 1 goalkeeper this season. He's a former Russian under-21 keeper, and in the few times I saw him I was impressed- he's agile, handles the ball well in the air and is calm under pressure. Even in FC's lowest point of the season, when the roof came in in the second half in a brutal 1-6 drubbing by Dynamo Brest, Leonov couldn't really be deemed at fault for any of the goals. Nonetheless, after the Brest debacle the very experienced stopper Sergei Veremko has taken over in goal. Veremko is in the last stages of a long and impressive career which has taken in clubs in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Greece, as well as 26 full international caps, and the captaincy of his country. I'm sure Leonov will come back a bit later, but for now Veremko is doing quite well, conceding only four times in the games he has played in.

In recent games the defence has been quite settled. Razin has desperately rifled through formations like a Lada driver trying to find a gear, but has yet to settle on a regular line up. In an ideal scenario the head coach prefers a 3-4-3 attacking formation, but footballing realpolitik has seen him oscillating between a defensive 5-3-2 and a more open 3-5-2 in recent weeks. Since the calamitous performance in Brest, FC have shut up shop quite effectively, thanks to a settled back three.

Promising young defender Dmitry Prischepa

Regular recent faces have included Dmitry Prischepa, a very promising young left sided defender who's been ever present recently, and is a Belarusian under-19 international. Prischepa's successful graduation through the youth ranks into the FC first team is exactly the kind of progression that the club needs to see much more of. Prischepa clearly has an excellent future in the game if he keeps developing but, as so many before him, his mature successes are likely to happen elsewhere.

There's a very Ukrainian flavour about this FC team presently and the other two members of the back three hail from Belarus' southern neighbours.

Ukrainian Yevgeni Chagovets summarises FC's "performance" in the first match against Energetik

Kharkov-born centre back Yevgeni Chagovets signed on at FC last summer from Shakter Donetsk's second string and has acquitted himself well in his twelve appearances this season. Dmytro Ryzhuk, meanwhile, is a former Ukrainian under-21 international who arrived in Minsk in March for his first spell in Belarusian football, having previously enjoyed spells in his home country, and three seasons in the Israeli top flight with two different clubs. Other regulars in the back line, when Razin has switched to a four or a five at the back, have included he very experienced Yuri Ostroukh, a versatile defender who has experience with clubs such as BATE, Torpedo and Dynamo Minsk amongst stints at half a dozen Belarusian clubs, and young Aleksey Ivanov, a Belarusian under-21 international now in his second season at FC.

There's two or three regulars to watch out for in Razin's ever-changing midfield moods. Another Ukrainian, Vladyslav Nasibulin, has returned to the side for the last four games after a long absence in the middle of the season. Nasibulin has previously captained FC, and has been at the club for three seasons after spending over a decade in Ukrainian domestic football. He is comfortable in the centre of the park and can also play as a link man between midfield and the strikers.

Vladyslav Nasibulin playing for FC in 2019

Oleksandr Vasiliyev has also started in the last half dozen games and has contributed two goals in recent times- the most recent in the disappointing home draw with Belshina.Vasilyev's role is to link up the back three with midfield and he has been effective in this position. However the midfielder that most caught my eye playing for FC this season has been another attacker- Oleg Evdokimov.

Evdokimov is approaching 150 games for the club, which he has represented throughout his career, with the exception of a single season at Neman Grodno in 2019. He's powerful and quick, and scored a worldly in Brest against Dynamo; so appalling was the final rout that Evdokimov's fine finish across the hapless Pavlyuchenko from a very tight angle, for the opening goal of the match, was almost forgotten. Evdokimov, having started the last nine games for his side, is one of Razin's most reliable picks presently.

Leading goalscorer Roman Gribovskiy

We've already said that up front is a big problem for FC. With Vladimir Khvashchinski gone, the top scorer still wearing the red and navy shirt is Roman Gribovskiy, who last netted against Belshina two games back. The forward has been ever present this season with three goals in his fifteen appearances. He's in his second season at FC after a career that took in the implosion, re-invention and dissolution of his home town team Dnepr / Dnyapro Mogilev, whose franchise of defunct side Luch Minsk delayed the inevitable closure by only a season. Gribovskiy is a solid enough player but hasn't really stood out.

Unfortunately, FC's makeshift attack pairing Gribovskiy with youngster Pavel Gorbach last weekend was wholly ineffective and a further shuffling for the next fixture seems likely. Perhaps getting Gribovskiy to operate as the lone forward with Nasibulin and Evdokimov pushing hard as attacking mids, might be more effective. Something really needs to change in the goalscoring dpeartment. Too often this season, watching FC Minsk try to score, has been akin to watching a drunk man trying to peel a grapefruit with a screwdriver.

FC Minsk chasing shadows against BATE in a 0-3 home defeat early in the season

We've seen the best and worst of FC in recent games. Blowing a chance for three home points against a miserable Belshina outfit in the last days of Gradoboyev's tenure was a low point. However, FC gave a glimpse of what might be possible in a 1-1 draw with title chasing Shahktyor, who were strangely out of sorts and disjointed at the Traktor stadium that day. FC battled away well and with a little luck might even have upset the potash barons.

I'm afraid last week's "derby" game at the Dinamo stadium bordered on the unwatchable. FC had to sit and take it as one of their former protegees- winger Ivan Bakhar- took the points with a wonderful goal, but otherwise this was nasty Mogadon-football at it's Dinamic worst. Kuchuk really couldn't care less how many people he bores to the point of taking up pétanque, or building a replica of the Holy Spirit Cathedral out of matchsticks, in preference to watching his joyless cloggers squeezing every last atom of entertainment out of the game. I've no idea how anyone sane could put up with watching that negative pish week in week out...even Razin was moved to complain about how boring and defensive the game was. I'd honestly sooner watch Gorodeya than Dinamo every week.

Yazz and the Plastic Population 

FC and Energetik have a lot in common; for both, after recent events, the Only Way is Up. Whereas FC do a wonderful job of developing young players only to lose them as they reach maturity, Energetik take on the players of others who aren't quite there, turn them into the finished article, and then sit helplessly as they move on. In some ways then this is Minsk's "Derby of the Dispossessed" or El Broke-io. I suspect given the political tension in the air at present even fewer fans than normal will be present. FC have been struggling to attract 300 fans to home games in recent weeks, and Energetik rarely do so in Molodechno. You can't really run a club on crowds like that.

As Energetik fans are discovering transfer windows are an awful time for us. This week's rumours, circling like a nasty, angry electric eel around a listing Vietnamese river boat, suggest that BATE, having been humiliated by Umarov and Nosko a fortnight ago, are in talks to sign them...although nothing has happened just yet. The loss of these two key players would again yield us little more than an apologetic shrug from their new owners, as Nosko belongs to Dynamo Brest, and Umarov to the mysterious Uzbek landlords Pakhtakor. Perhaps heads being turned by the possibility of lucrative deals at higher profile clubs were part of the reason behind last week's abject surrender to Rukh. That being the case I hope that there's been a lot of shouting and a lot of footballing hard labour in training this week, lead by a rejuvenated coach Vladimir. Today's BATE signing target can so easily be tomorrow's Nefthekhimik Nizhnekamsk bench-warmer. The game has a fine way of shattering egos when they get out of hand.

I'd expect Lesko to be back in goal, a re-arranged back three; perhaps Nosko and Bashilov's midfield roles to be much more clearly defined and worked through, with Sovpel maybe finally coming into the side. The good news is that Dušan Bakić returns from suspension so I'd expect him to return up front to partner Yudchits, with Junior relegated back to the second row of the bench, behind Mukhammedov, who would be my first choice replacement striker. I would expect a back to basics performance with as few risks as possible taken, and a high pressing line against FC.

We are currently on a run of winnable fixtures; I have no fear of an out of sorts Torpedo next week and then blow me if we aren't away to gubbins village outfit Gorodeya, before facing Smolevichi after the two week break in August. This game in Molodechno takes place the week before a very winnable cup tie away to lowly Orsha of the Pershaya Liga.

Good, professional performances based on hard work and the right attitude, and a heavy points tally are required in all of these games in the month ahead, if we are to repair the terrible damage wrought by Hurricane Rukh quickly.  Should we turn in another performance similar to last week, I fear genuinely that our season will drop away like the proverbial burning moth from a hot lightbulb.

The process of recovering our dignity must begin at the Traktor stadium this weekend. No excuses.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @DreadlocksGleb

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Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview, 17th Round: Sunday, 12 July 2020 v Rukh Brest

On Sunday Rukh Brest visit Molodechno with revenge in mind. In the second game of the season, Energetik pulled off a nervy, backs-to-the-wall single-goal win against Rukh, thanks to a towering Miroshnikov header from a Yak corner, just before half time. Rukh however hit the post, and passed up several other great chances in that game, so will come determined not to be the victim of another Energetik double.

Rukh are Brest's second team, and from 2017-19 were Dynamo's farm club. The links had to be broken, officially, when they won promotion at the end of last season to the top tier, for the first time. Quite how much these links have been actually broken remains a murky subject. Dynamo's owner, Aleksandr Zaitsev has been quoted this season as wanting to build up Rukh more following Dynamo's championship season last term.  Zaitsev is one of Belarus' wealthiest businessmen and has the resources to make Rukh very successful, should he wish to do so.

Brest is located on the south-western border of Belarus and Poland. It's actually possible to visit the city visa-free from Poland for up to ten days, making football weekends there attractive. With a population of nearly 350,000 Brest is a big city with a millennium of complicated and tragic history behind it. On or near a border for most of its existence, Brest has been overrun or ruled by Poles, Swedes, Lithuanians, the Tsars, Imperial Germans, Soviets, Nazis, Soviets again, before settling for the relative "calm" of independent Belarus since 1991.

Trotsky at Brest-Litovsk in 1918

The Russians called the place "Brest-Litovsk" in Tsarist times, and it was here that the fledgling Bolshevik state signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, marking the end of Russia's involvement in the Great War. When the complicated Polish-Soviet war ended in the Treaty of Riga in 1921, the city became part of Poland, and was re-named "Brest on the Bug". Then, in 1939, the grubby Molotov-Ribbentrop pact saw Brest allocated to Soviet Russia as interwar Poland was dismembered by November that year. Brest has been part of the territory of Belarus since then. The Soviet defenders of the Fortress of Brest held out for a terrible week at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1941, founding a resistance narrative that persists to this day, with gigantic monuments to the sacrifice of soldiers and civilians dominant in the town.

So much historical drama is the backdrop to what seems a friendly and engaging city in our times. Brest is shaped by the lazy rivers Mukhavets and Bug. It's a place full of commerce and tourism; a place of art, theatre, music and nightlife; a place where an old school lantern lighter still lights up the illuminations along Sovetskaya. It's somewhere I am really looking forward to visiting and spending some time in, eventually, when Covid-19 has joined Trotsky in the dustbin of history.

Gigantic Soviet-era Monument to the Defenders of Brest

  
The Rapid Rise of the new Rukh Brest

Rukh are a strange team. Founded only four years ago by fans of Dinamo Brest as an amateur team, to play in the local Brest oblast league, their unusual badge claims that they were founded in 1922, which is a bit more than four years ago. That they are now a fully professional side in Belarus' top division, is a pretty astonishing rise, almost without precedent. The motivation for the new Rukh seems to have been a half way house between a Dynamo fans team, and a good amateur team for players in the city not quite good enough for the professional ranks. Few could have predicted how quickly Rukh would rise, back in 2016.

WKS Brzesc, Rukh's inter-war ancestors

The present day club lays claim to the heritage of interwar football in Brest, as club founder and chief executive Sergey Prisyazhnyuk has explained. The original Rukh had their origins in a Polish army team, WKS Brzesc, founded in 1922. Rukh (or ruch in Polish) is a word meaning "movement" or "motion". The club enjoyed some success in the 1930s and were close to making it into the top league in Poland in 1937. Called Ruch Brzesc by then, the club entered a play-off against teams from Grodno, Pinsk and Vilnius- cities all then in Poland, a measure of how much European geography was changed by the Second World War. Ultimately, the club was unsuccessful in gaining promotion, and disappeared when catastrophe overwhelmed the city in late 1939. The present day club's badge, therefore, is an acknowledgement of the history of the game in Brest, and has attracted a lot of interest from across the border in Poland.

The modern day Rukh's spectacular rise has taken them through amateur football, the Second League championship in 2018, and a heart-stopping win over Dnyapro Mogilev in last season's relegation / promotion play off. Everything about this final promotion was skin of the teeth stuff. Qualifying for the play off on goal difference, in third place in the First League table, just three goals better off than fourth-placed Lokomotiv Gomel, Rukh defeated Dnyapro 2-1 in Brest only to lose by the same scoreline in Mogilev. The lottery of a penalty shoot-out saw Rukh prevail 5-4 and enter the top league for the first time. With Dynamo already celebrating wresting the title from BATE, last season certainly was the best in living memory for Brest football.

The relations with Dynamo and Aleksandr Zaitsev remain something of a grey area. Both Dynamo and Rukh share offices in the city as well as the main stadium, GOSK Brestskiy. The side now has a squad containing players from Africa and South America as well as full home internationals, and there's steady traffic in players between the sides. The club's infrastructure is struggling to keep up with the team's remarkable on-field success. Their unusual bottle-green kit with grey socks has been the subject of near-erotic fixation amongst football shirt obsessives and new UK fans alike, but seems unobtainable, with a blanket indifference greeting many purchase requests from abroad. You can buy an unimpressive white t-shirt with the club badge on it for 60 roubles, though.

The fantasy UK equivalent to Rukh's story would be the West Ham United official supporters' club re-founding Thames FC (last played 1932) and entering them into the Isthmian League, with an all-conquering Thames re-joining the Football League four years later, all funded-but-not-funded-honest-guv by West Ham's ownership, run from a portakabin outside the London stadium. I think.

Rukh then are still a very new club rather blinking at their sudden projection from interesting historical footnote to prominent reality. There doesn't seem to be much of a rivalry between the teams, more a gentle amusement from the part of Dynamo fans that their little petri-dish experiment has grown so big so quickly. One gets the sense that a complete separation from Dynamo will be necessary before Rukh will really grow and establish themselves, and it's really not clear how or if that can happen. After all, if Mr. Zaitsev gets bored, and pulls whatever he may be providing, the club, still with a relatively small and new fan base, will tumble down the league structure just as assuredly as they have climbed it. Time will tell if Rukh will last longer than the seventeen years their Polish ancestors managed, or whether they will be yet another here-today-gone-tomorrow Belarusian football story. It's to be hoped not, as with an emerging youth system being run by the club, it's already been demonstrated that there's an appetite for more than one senior team in this historic city.

Rukh in 2020

Rukh Brest are a dedicated goalscorer away from being a top four side, and have had terrible luck with injuries this season. With just a couple of tweaks to the squad, particularly in the attacking department, they would be serious contenders for a European place. Yet, it's not clear how much the ownership actually want Rukh to challenge to dominance of Dynamo in the city, and potentially overshadow them in future. It's a pretty unique question for the club's hierarchy, all Dynamo fans. Consequently, Rukh sit a respectable ninth place in the table, in no danger of relegation, and likely to finish a bit higher. They are draw specialists, having drawn seven of their sixteen games this campaign,and results have been rather binary in nature: 0-1, 1-0, 0-0.

Rukh gaffer Aleksandr Sednev

Rukh are overseen by head coach Aleksandr Sednev, who joined Rukh shortly after their play-off success last season. Sednev had previously spent two years in Kazhakstan with FK Aktobe. In his mid-40s, Sednev has significant Belarusian managerial experience with Belshina Bobruisk and Dnepr Mogilev, as well as brief spells with Dinamo Minsk and the Belarusian under-21 side. He's exactly the kind of coach Rukh needed, a top-level manager used to working with slightly smaller clubs and set-ups. Sednev, a heavy-set and intimidating touchline presence, also had a fifteen year career as a player in the Belarusian and Russian leagues, spells at BATE and Baltika Kaliningrad being the highlights. Sednev is joined in the dugout by young coach Andrei Chelmodeev, who actually oversaw the tail end of the club's promotion and play-off success in 2019, as caretaker, before his new boss arrived. Already an A-Licence coach at just 30, Chelmodeev would be a likely long term candidate to take on Rukh once Sednev moves on. Kazakh Andrei Ferapontov completes the coaching set up.

Goalkeeper Roman Stepanov

Rukh can call on two excellent goalkeepers. Aleksandr Nechaev began the season, but he has been displaced now by Roman Stepanov.  28 year-old Stepanov joined Rukh from the breaking-up shambles that was last season's Torpedo Minsk, and gave the best performance by any goalkeeper that I have seen this season, in a 1-1 draw at Soligorsk. A depleted Rukh side missing their entire first choice defence surprisingly dented Shahktyor's title assault with an astonishing performance built on the athleticism, anticipation and strong hands of Stepanov, who produced a string of remarkable stops to keep the potash barons at bay. It will be a struggle now for Nechaev to get back in the side with his rival in such from.

Sednev favours an unusual 3-4-1-2 formation, with strong defence in mind. Injuries has seen this mutate into a classic 4-4-2 in recent matches. Vitali Gajduchik is a regular centre half, a former Belrusian under-21 cap, who has only missed games through suspension; he has over two hundred games in the top flight, as well as spells in Lithuania and Greece, and is a solid foundation for the back four. In the last couple of games he has started a partnership with Ukrainian Oleksiy Kovtun, a winter signing from Karpaty Lviv. Kovtun netted the winner for Rukh in their opening fixture over Dynamo Minsk, but struggled to establish himself, missing a long run of games before returning for the home defeat to Vitebsk- a game in which he was sent off. Brazilian centre half William, who has featured in the second tier in his home country, was expected to play a much bigger role in the side this term, having joined as a free agent in March for a two year spell. William seems to have been the first choice centre half but seems injured at present- a pity, as he is an elegant and calming presence in the defence, who always seems to have a bit of time on the ball.

Left back by trade, the versatile Artem Rakhmanov is also a regular at the back for Rukh. he has moved around a lot, having played in Estonia, Moldova, Sweden, Poland and Ukraine as well as his home country. He's a hard tackling, non-nonsense defender and dependable. Another Ukrainian, Oleksandr Migunov, completes the regular defensive line up. Having not quite made it at bigger Ukrainian clubs such as Dnipro and Shakter, this is his first spell in Belarusian football; he's also played with Shakter Karagandy in Kazhakstan.

Rukh also have good and settled options in midfield. The regular campaigners include Denis Grechikho, a regular Belarusian under-21 cap and a powerful central or attacking midfielder; his goal this season came in a fine 4-2 triumph for Rukh in Grodno, the last team to get the better of form side Neman. That game's highlights are well worth watching, featuring goal of the season contenders from Rukh's recently-departed Moldovan midfielder Andronic, and Neman's Kadymyan. Rukh were also the last side to get the better of Neman, before the beginning of their run of seven straight wins.

Denis Grechikho (right0

Alongside Grechikho club captain Sergei Tikhonovskiy is a regular, usually playing on the left. He was suspended for aggregating too many yellow cards for the last game against Dinamo, but will come back into contention for the game on Sunday. The skipper is another very experienced campaigner with a dozen senior seasons behind him, all in the Vysheyshaya Liga except for two years with Istiqlol in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. However, the only ever present in Rukh's midfield has been right winger Artem Kontsevoy, another Belarus under-21 youngster who's chipped in with a couple of assists.

Chidi Osuchukwu signs for Rukh from Dynamo

More may have been expected of Nigerian central midfielder Chidi Osuchukwu, who signed for Rukh from who else but...Dynamo, at the beginning of this campaign. Osuchukwu was an important part of Dynamo's championship season, at the end of a three year spell there. He's been in and out of the side with injury but will be in contention on Sunday after returning last weekend against Dinamo Minsk. A final player to look out for is the Kazakh international Vladislav Vasiljev, an aggressive and hard tackling utility player who normally appears in central midfield, but has played across midfield and defensive positions to cover in Rukh's injury-blighted campaign.

We identified Rukh's problem area as being up front. Senegalese centre forward Abdoulaye Diallo, top scorer with four goals, has caught the eye this season but may be struggling for our game with a twanged hamstring.  Diallo is tall and powerful and moves very easily around the penalty box. But Diallo aside, not many of Rukh's forwards have made an impression. Last season's play off hero Vladislav Morozov has been unable to force his way into the side; two young loanees from Dynamo's second string, winger Nikiforenko and striker Bogomolskiy have not really made too much of an impact over the season; recognising the problem, Rukh and Dinamo swapped players. Full Belarusian international Evegeny Shevchenko joined Rukh, with attacking midfielder Pavel Sedko moving in the opposite direction. Shevchenko made an immediate debut against Dinamo Minsk, and will be certain to start again alongside either Bogomolskiy or Diallo, if fit, on Sunday.

Senegalese forward Abdoulaye Diallo skips past Sovpel and Miroshnikov in March at GOSK Brestskiy

But for injuries I feel sure Rukh would be a top six side. No one has really battered them this season. Sure, they lost the Brest "derby" 4-1, but that scoreline really flattered Dynamo; Rukh passed up several excellent chances to score with the game level at 1-1, and rather collapsed in the last ten minutes following the award of a very dubious penalty. Other than that, their other three league defeats have been by a single goal. The previously mentioned win in Grodno was a stand-out performance in one of the most exciting matches of the league season, and a tempting glimpse of the side's obvious potential. They come into this game on the back of two good wins; firstly at home against luckless backmarkers Belshina, where Rukh raced into a three goal lead after just forty minutes; and last time out against Dinamo Minsk, where Bogomolskiy finally got himself on the scoresheet for the first time in a dull affair.

I expect this weekend to be a low scoring or goal-less draw; if either side comes out on top, it will be by a single goal.

A Sobering Week : Farewell Yak & Tweh

It's been a sobering week in Belarusian football. Firstly came the awful news that Dynamo Brest's squad are riddled with coronavirus, and their game this weekend has been postponed, finally, after the usual display of initial callous indifference from the ABFF. Up to twelve players have the disease; they are the seventh club in the top flight, that we know of, to be afflicted by the virus in one way or another. Whilst all of us have enjoyed the league this season, and personally it has been of great help to my own getting through this awful time, it's dreadful news, and hopefully the players affected will be recovered and back in training soon.

Smolevichi's team last week against Dynamo Brest. Over half these players have now left the club. We have signed second front left, no. 9, Vladislav Muhammedov, a striker. He scored in the thrilling 3-3 draw from the penalty spot.

Beyond this, Smolevichi diced with financial oblivion after a thrilling draw with Dynamo at home. It seemed a strong possibility that the club would fold early in the week. Coach Aleksandr Brazevich and most of the club's better players left; several youngsters have come in on loan, and Brazevich's assistant has taken over as head coach. Smolevichi's chances of survival have clearly been hit, badly, by a lack of funds. Still, finishing the season is clearly a better outcome for everyone. Smolevichi are not the only club to be in financial trouble; rumours that Slutsk are desperately battling closure have got louder as the side has plummeted down the table, whilst Gorodeya's staff and players have been asked to take a pay cut. Belarus is in a difficult place economically at present, is really badly hit by the pandemic, and with almost all clubs being subject to some form of state ownership, there is a knock on effect on elite level football.


For almost all UK fans of the Vysheyshaya Liga this has been the first experience of a Belarusian transfer window, and what a dizzying ticker tape of news there has been since transfers became permitted on 1 July. At least it's been pleasant to go through the process unfiltered by the appalling Jim White.

First to go was the diminutive Liberian David Teklo Tweh. The central midfielder opted to sign at an inopportune time for Dynamo Brest and will no doubt ease his way into the side when normality resumes at the club. Tweh was virtually ever present for us this season and a really skilful and determined attacking midfielder. I always felt that Nosko gave Tweh a platform to play, and when Nosko was nobbled- as happened against Shahktyor and to a lesser extent against Dinamo Minsk- Tweh struggled. Tweh managed a couple of wonderful goals and assists and it's a real pity he's gone, as he was a player who was always exciting and enjoyable to watch. However, he is hugely ambitious, and will be on a much better salary at Dynamo, so best of luck to him and thanks, after a season and a half with Energetik.

I haven't been as dismayed by a player leaving for quite a long time as I was with the departure of Yakshiboev to Shahktyor Soligorsk. I'll be honest and say that his performance in the opening game against BATE was a big part of my deciding to follow Energetik this season. He played with such joy, such a freedom that afternoon, that you rarely see in games in Scotland or England. Clearly, Yak, on loan from Uzbek side Pakhtakor, was not going to be with us beyond this season, but I had hoped he would stay and become the league's second successive Energetik-based top scorer.

It would have been easier to accept if he had left for another country, but his moving to Shahktyor of all clubs is a punch in the guts. It seems that Yak is caught up in a chain with pink-booted popinjay Vitaly Lisakovich at the other end; Lisakovich's departure for a bench in the Russian Premier League is seemingly imminent. Pakhtakor were paying his salary whilst he was with us, so I am sure Shahktyor will be able to offer more in the complicated sub-lease arrangement that has now been agreed. In this sense, Yak's commanding performance at home to Slavia was a fitting farewell, given his suspension for the win over BATE last Saturday. Given the intensity of events this week, that win over BATE already seems to be six months ago. In addition to these departures fringe squad member Pavel Shorets has also left.

Mikhail Bashilov joins us from Belshina

Some of the magic beans that lured Tweh to Brest have already been spent on signing Russian defensive midfielder Mikhail Bashilov from Belshina Bobruisk. Eduard Gradoboyev has finally been sacked down there, and caretaker Dmitry Migas took the chance to move on Bashilov, perhaps with a First League campaign in mind next season. Bashilov played thirteen times for the league's bottom club and is a steady, capable performer. He scored a pearler from distance against Slavia Mozyr earlier in the season.

He's not a like for like Tweh replacement; I see him as a midfield utility player, capable of stepping in if Nosko is recalled by Dynamo Brest, or playing across central midfield. Now Tweh has gone, one would expect Haïk to play a much more prominent role as an attacking midfielder; Sovpel might finally start a game; there might be game time for Wictor Dias and other fringe forwards. Our strength going forward was bolstered as this was being written, by the arrival of Vladislav Muhammedov on loan from BATE's second string. Muhammedov spent the first half of the season farmed out at Smolevichi and was a virtual ever-present, scoring twice in fifteen games, both goals coming in their games against Dynamo Brest. He's a Belarusian under-21 international and stood out at under 19 level, with three goals in nine caps. It'll be interesting to see how he slots in and whether he makes an immediate start on Sunday. Muhammedov is with us for the rest of the calendar year.

It's hard supporting a youth academy, which is what we are. Our role is to develop young talent, and sell them on for profit either for ourselves or for the players' owner. Yakshiboev hadn't been prolific at any club before he came to Energetik, who helped turn him into a league top scorer and enabled him to catch the eye all over Europe. Our business model means that the maximum any player will stay with us is two seasons, and there's little chance to build a solid team that grows together over time. However, few are as good at this role as Vladimir, Anatoly Pavlovich and the White Caps on our bench. I just hope we don't dribble away down the table in the second half of the campaign, having more or less guaranteed safety from relegation in the first round of games, and that we keep pushing hard for a top three-four finish, something this talented young group are well capable of. However, it won't quite be the same Energetik without Yak's explosive running and goalscoring mixed up with baffling spells of petulance and anonymity. A club that's lost it's talisman needs a little time to re-adjust, as do the fans.

I'm looking forward to the game on Sunday and hope for once we can finish with eleven men on the park. As usual, Vladimir will persist with a 3-5-2. If Bashilov plays Nosko may be pushed further forward, or the new man may start on the bench with Haïk or Sovpel coming in. Yudchits will partner Muhammedov or Atemeng up front. It will be interesting to see how the team is re-shaped and what sort of performance we get. After all, we beat BATE without Yak and with less than an hour from Tweh. Rukh at home is a different proposition altogether, and I'm hoping we can go out and prove ourselves all over again. There's no reason why not.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood