Belarus vs Slovakia – 03/06/2022
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Belarus and Slovakia will meet in the opening week of Nations League action as they contest League C Group 3 alongside Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in the other set of fixtures with the Slovakians coming into this competition as the clear favourites to win this group.
Slovakia are set for a big change in the way they do things, as they are coming into this one off the back of seeing Marek Hamsik and a few others retire from international duty.
This now means they come into this third Nations League campaign with a different setup to what this generation normally have. The likes of Milan Skriniar are still around, however, and he will be the biggest name on show across this group.
Martin Dúbravka is also out injured as well, and with Michal Duris retiring, there are hundreds of caps not in attendance at these Nations League games.
Fulham’s Marek Rodak will now likely be Slovakia’s number one for this one, as he aims to keep this role for the foreseeable future.
Slovakia did have a solid run in the World Cup Qualifiers, despite not qualifying, as they only managed a fourth-placed finish in Group H and finished nine points behind first-placed Croatia.
In truth, the nation did not really have much of a chance in making it to the winter’s World Cup, so these Nations League games will be key for them salvaging some form from a heartbreaking attempt to get to the World Cup.
Back in the March internationals, Slovakia did manage to get one defeat and one win. Norway would ease past them in a 2-0 win, while Pavel Hapal’s men defeated Finland 2-0 just a few days later. This, along with their European pedigree has put them as the favourites to win this Group 3 group.
Belarus, however, did manage to put together some solid results in the recent March internationals after a terrible end to their World Cup Qualifiers campaign where they lost 2-0 to the Czech Republic just as Wales smashed them 5-1.
India and Bahrain would meet with Belarus in the March internationals, however, as India fell to a 3-0 loss, before they defeated Bahrain 1-0, and it’s given the country a rare taste of victory.
It’s going to be a close game here, and Forebet predicts a game of under 2.5 goals and for Belarus to get another win and start their Nations League campaign with a bang.
