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April 1, 1999 - "Unwatchable" Italy lambasted after Belarus setback
March 31, 1999 - Lacklustre Italy held at home by Belarus
March 31, 1999 - Italy 1 Belarus 1 - result
March 29, 1999 - Zoff wants goals against Belarus
March 27, 1999 - Belarus 0 Switzerland 1 - result
March 24, 1999 - Belarus call in the army to dry pitch
March 23, 1999 - Belarus name squad for Euro qualifiers
November 11, 1998 - Khatskevich wins Belarus top player award
October 17, 1998 - Wales battle back to beat Belarus
October 17, 1998 - Wales 3 Belarus 2 - result

"Unwatchable" Italy lambasted after Belarus setback
By Gideon Long

ROME, April 1 (Reuters) - Dino Zoff's Italy were derided as "unwatchable" on Thursday after they escaped with an
embarrassing 1-1 draw at home to Belarus. Newspapers praised individual players, notably goalscorer Filippo Inzaghi and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, but overall Zoff was told to sort out things before the Italians face Wales in their next European championship qualifier in June. "An unwatchable national side," crowed Gazzetta dello Sport. "Zoff takes one step forward and two steps back". "Little Italy, super Inzaghi," the paper said in its front page headline. Inzaghi appeared to have given the Italians a perfect start to the group one match in Ancona when he headed a cross past Belarus goalkeeper Gennady Tumilovich after just 46 seconds. But his effort was ruled out for offside. From then on the visitors were every bit as dangerous as their opponents, created six scoring chances to Italy's three and almost grabbed a winner when Maxim Romashchenko forced a fine save from Buffon in the last minute. Italy's draw was all the more embarrassing because Belarus had two key players suspended, another injured and their national league has yet to emerge from its winter break.
"I warned before the match I was worried but unfortunately this went beyond our worst fears," a gloomy Zoff said.
"I thought this would be a difficult match because I'd seen Belarus cause Wales a few problems but, frankly, I didn't think
we would suffer quite as much and I was sure that one way or another we would emerge with a victory. "In the first half we were really bad. We were making mistakes with even the simplest passes. In the second half we found a better rhythm but we didn't have enough shots on goal. We were dangerous only on a couple of occasions." Italy were disappointing in every aspect of their game but particularly in attack. Zoff, perhaps buoyed by three successive wins in competitive
matches since the start of the qualifying campaign, fielded three forwards -- Inzaghi, Parma's Enrico Chiesa and AS Roma's
Francesco Totti. But the tactic backfired and the Italy coach hastily rearranged his formation at halftime, taking off the
disappointing Totti and reverting to a two-man front line. "We had only tried playing with a three-man attack in training and that's not enough," Parma centre back Fabio Cannavaro complained. "We really felt the lack of an extra midfielder. We couldn't stop their breaks down the wings," lamented captain Paolo Maldini who for once was caught out of position when Valentin Belkevich stole in on the right to score Belarus's goal. On the positive side Buffon proved again he is a fine
replacement for injured first choice goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi while Inzaghi confirmed himself as Italy's in-form striker.
He has now grabbed five goals in his last five international appearances and helped propel Juventus back towards the top of
the Italian league.

Lacklustre Italy held at home by Belarus
© Reuters Limited Wed Mar 31 1999 courtesy of Daily Soccer

ANCONA, Italy, March 31 (Reuters) - Italy were held to a shock 1-1 draw at home by Belarus on Wednesday and surrendered their 100 percent record in European championship qualifying group one. Belarus, handicapped by the fact their national league has yet to emerge from its winter break, stunned their millionaire hosts by taking the lead through Dynamo Kiev midfielder Valentin Belkevich after 24 minutes. Italy equalised seven minutes later with a Filippo Inzaghi penalty after his Juventus team mate Antonio Conte had been brought down in the box but, overall, the Azzurri played poorly and managed only three shots on goal to the visitors' six. The draw ended Italy's perfect start to the qualifying
campaign for a tournament they have never won but they remain top of the group with 10 points from four matches.
Switzerland are second on seven, with Wales third on six. "They (Belarus) played well. We played less well," Italy
coach Dino Zoff said with a touch of understatement. "We did a few good things tonight but certainly not enough."
Italy had entered the tie in buoyant mood following their 2-1 win in Denmark on Saturday. Belarus, on the other hand, were without injured Sergei Shtanyuk and had two key players, Alexander Khatskevich and Vyacheslav Gerashchenko, suspended. Italy appeared to have taken the lead after just 46 seconds through Inzaghi, who had scored in the first minute in Denmark. The striker met a cross from Enrico Chiesa and headed past keeper Gennady Tumilovich but the referee ruled the effort offside. For the rest of the half Belarus, who had managed only one point from their previous three games, were every bit as dangerous and deserved to go ahead. Dynamo Moscow forward Dynamo Romashchenko fired in a
powerful cross from the left, Paolo Maldini was for once caught out of position and Belkevich stole in at the back post to crack a first time shot across goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and into the bottom of the net. If the Italians were stunned by the goal they did not show it and just after the half hour they were level. Francesco Totti knocked in a deep cross from the left, Christian Panucci headed it back across goal and Conte was tugged down by Radislav Orlovsky as he lunged at the ball. Inzaghi converted the spot kick for his fifth goal for Italy in as many matches. Belarus threatened the Italian goal again on the stroke of halftime and during the interval Zoff made changes. Udinese midfielder Giuliano Gianichedda came on for his debut in place of AS Roma's Luigi Di Biagio and Eusebio Di Francesco came on for Totti, who had a poor game behind the front two. Still Italy struggled, and Zoff threw on Roberto Baggio to warm applause from 25,000 fans in this central Adriatic city. It made no difference, and in the end it was Belarus who came closest to finding a late winner when Romashchenko ran on to a through ball from Vasily Baranov and forced a fine reaction save from Buffon in the closing minutes.

Italy 1 Belarus 1 - result
© Reuters Limited Wed Mar 31 1999 courtesy of Daily Soccer

ANCONA, Italy, March 31 (Reuters) - Italy and Belarus drew 1-1 (halftime: 1-1) in their European championship group one qualifier on Wednesday:

Referee: Michel Piraux (Belgium).
Attendance: 20,735

Scorers:

Italy: Filippo Inzaghi (31 pen)
Belarus: Valentin Belkevich (24)

Italy: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 2-Christian Panucci, 3-Paolo Maldini, 5-Fabio Cannavaro, 6-Alessandro Nesta;
8-Dino Baggio, 4-Luigi Di Biagio (15-Giuliano Gianichedda 64), 7-Antonio Conte; 10-Francesco Totti (16-Eusebio Di Francesco 45), 9-Filippo Inzaghi, 11-Enrico Chiesa (18-Roberto Baggio 64)

Belarus: 1-Gennady Tumilovich; 2-Erik Yakhimovich, 3-Andrei Lavrik, 4-Alexander Lukhvich, 5-Andrei Ostrovsky;
6-Sergei Gurenko, 7-Radislav Orlovsky, 8-Maxim Romashchenko, 9-Valentin Belkevich; 10-Vladimir Makovsky, 11-Vasily Baranov

Photos by Stefano Rellandini REUTERS (March 31, 1999, Ancona, Italy)

Zoff wants goals against Belarus
© Reuters Limited Wed Mar 29 12:22 1999 courtesy of Daily Soccer

ROME, March 29 (Reuters) - Italy look set to go for goals in Wednesday's European championship qualifier against Belarus. Coach Dino Zoff said he would make "several changes" to his team and praised young AS Roma playmaker Francesco Totti, who went on late and set up Antonio Conte's winner in Saturday's 2-1 group one victory over Denmark in Copenhagen. "The future is his, because if he keeps playing at this level he will have a place in this team," said Zoff.
Newspapers speculated that Totti would line up behind Juventus striker Filippo Inzaghi, who scored Italy's other goal,
and either Marco Delvecchio or Roberto Baggio. Other possible changes included the use of Conte from the start in place of Parma midfielder Diego Fuser, and Udinese's Jonathan Bachini for Roma's Eusebio Di Francesco. The goal was sweet revenge for Conte, who broke his leg in his last Italy appearance in 1997 and was subsequently dropped from the squad defensive-minded former boss Cesare Maldini took to the World Cup. Zoff rejected criticism that he had been too defensive against Denmark, who had pinned Italy back for much of the match. "I have never been prudent, nor do I have an old-fashioned approach," Zoff said. "But I do know how international matches are played and that there are circumstances in which a team are forced to defend," he was quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport. "I am the first to say we should have pushed forward more, but when you play a good side away like Denmark, they're going to attack."

Belarus 0 Switzerland 1 - result

MINSK, March 27 (Reuters) - Switzerland beat Belarus 1-0 (Halftime: 0-0) in their European soccer championship group one qualifier on Saturday.

Attendance: 35,000

Scorer: Sebastien Fournier 72

Belarus: 1-Gennady Tumilovich; 2-Erik Yakhimovich, 3-Andrei Lavrik, 4-Alexander Lukhvich, 5-Vyacheslav Gerashchenko (18-Vadim Skripchenko 85), 6-Sergei Gurenko, 7-Alexander Khatskevich, 8-Maxim Romashchenko, 9-Valentin Belkevich, 10-Vladimir Makovsky (17-Andrei Ostrovsky 86), 11-Vasily Baranov (14-Alexander Chaika 59)

Switzerland: 1-Martin Brunner; 2-Sebastien Jeanneret, 3-Sebastien Sournier, 4-Stephane Henchoz, 5-Marc Hodel, 6-Johann Vogel, 7-David Sesa (16-Patrick De Napoli 73), 8-Raphael Wicky (17-Patrick Muller 66), 9-Stephane Chapuisat, 10-Ciriaco Sforza, 11-Alexandre Comisetti)

Photos by Gleb Garanich REUTERS (March 27, 1999, Minsk, Belarus)

Belarus call in the army to dry pitch
© Reuters Limited Wed Mar 24 15:12:45 1999 courtesy of Daily Soccer

MINSK, March 24 (Reuters) - Belarus soccer officials called
in army helicopters on Wednesday to dry out their pitch before
Saturday's European Championship group one qualifier against
Switzerland.
Two army helicopters were called to dry out the field at the
Dynamo Stadium in Minsk after melting snow left the pitch in
poor condition.
The under-21 European championship qualifier between the two
countries was moved to June as Belarus officials could not find
a suitable venue. The former Soviet republic has no undersoil
heating at any of their stadiums.

Belarus name squad for Euro qualifiers
© Reuters Limited Tue Mar 23 12:34:06 1999 courtesy of Daily Soccer

MINSK, March 23 (Reuters) - Belarus coach Mikhail Vergeenko named a 23-man squad for two European group one qualifiers against Switzerland in Minsk on Saturday and against Italy three days later in Ancona.
Veteran strikers Pyotr Kachuro of England's Sheffield United and Zenit St Petersburg's Sergei Gerasimets were left out as was injured defender Miroslav Romashchenko of Russian champions Spartak Moscow.

Goalkeepers: Andrei Satsunkevich (Dynamo Minsk), Valery Shantolosov (Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod), Gennady Tumilovich (Zhemchuzhina Sochi)

Defenders: Erik Yakhimovich, Andrei Ostrovsky (both Dynamo Moscow), Andrei Lavrik, Sergei Gurenko (both Lokomotiv Moscow), Alexander Lukhvich (Torpedo Moscow), Eduard Boltrushevich (Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev), Sergei Kovalchyuk (Dynamo Minsk)

Midfielders: Alexander Khatskevich, Valentin Belkevich (both Dynamo Kiev), Vasily Baranov (Spartak Moscow), Vyacheslav Gerashchenko (Chernomorets Novorossiisk), Alexander Chaika, Igor Tarlovsky (both Alania Vladikavkaz), Radislav Orlovsky (Torpedo Moscow), Alexander Kulchiy (Dynamo Moscow), Vadim Skripchenko (BATE Borisov)

Forwards: Vladimir Makovsky (Dynamo Kiev), Oleg Putilos (Capelen, Belgium), Maxim Romashchenko (Dynamo Moscow), Alexander Vyazhevich (Dynamo Minsk).

Khatskevich wins Belarus top player award
© Reuters Limited Wed Nov 11 17:08:09 1998 courtesy of Daily Soccer

MINSK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Dynamo Kiev midfielder Alexander Khatskevich was named Belarus Player of the Year in a nationwide poll of soccer experts. Khatskevich received 240 votes in the annual poll, jointly conducted by the Belarus Soccer Federation and national sports weekly Press-ball. The 25-year-old midfielder, who won the top honours for the first time, beat out Spartak Moscow's midfielder Vasily Baranov and defender Sergei Gurenko of Lokomotiv Moscow.

CARDIFF, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Wales continued their winning ways on Wednesday night, beating Belarus 3-2 for a second victory in five days in European championship qualifying group one. The hosts, who surprised Denmark 2-1 in Copenhagen at the weekend, got the perfect start at Ninian Park when wingback John Robinson put them in front with a well-struck shot from 12 metres out after 14 minutes. But the sweeper system employed by Wales manager Bobby Gould in the first half appeared to encourage Belarus to get forward and they equalised after 20 minutes through a diving header from Sergei Gurenko. Worse was to follow for Wales three minutes into the second half when Belarus centre forward Valentin Belkovich dribbled his way past the home defence before finishing past 'keeper Paul Jones. Wales dug deep, however, and Chris Coleman levelled the scores with a close-range volley in the 54th minute. His Fulham team-mate Kit Symons then rose to head home the winner from a Darren Barnard corner with just seven minutes left. Wales' man of the match Robbie Savage afterwards called for all his country's future home qualifiers to be held in Wales and not across the border in England. Wales' national stadium is currently under construction in Cardiff and the team lost 2-0 to Italy at Liverpool's Anfield stadium in their opening qualifier. "The crowd was fantastic, we should keep all the games in Wales," said Savage. "We should move the games to Ninian Park to help us qualify for our first major competition for what I think is nearly 39 years." "Everyone in the dressing room including Mark Hughes and Dean Saunders are over the moon. This is probably their last time to qualify for a major competition and we want to do it for them and of course for ourselves. "The main objective tonight was not to get beat but to get the three points is unbelievable." Wales' victory lifted them onto six points with group leaders Italy, who have a game in hand.

CARDIFF, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Wales beat Belarus 3-2 (halftime 1-1) in their European championship group one qualifier on Wednesday.

Scorers:
Wales - John Robinson 14, Chris Coleman 53, Kit Symons 84 Belarus - Sergei Gurenko 20, Valentin Belkovic 48.

Teams:

Wales: 1-Paul Jones; 3-Darren Barnard, 6-Chris Coleman, 5-Kit Symons, 4-Robbie Savage, 2-John Robinson, 7-Andy Johnson, 10-Mark Hughes, 11-Mark Pembridge, 8-Dean Saunders, 9-Nathan Blake

Belarus: 1-Andrei Satsunevich; 2-Erik Yekhimovich, 11-Andre Lavrik, 4-Sergei Shtanyuk, 3-Andrei Ostrovsky, 5-Vyacheslav Geraschenko (13-Maksim Ronaschchenko 88), 7-Alexander Khatskevich, 8-Vasily Baranov (14-Sergei Gerasinets 69), 6-Sergei Gurenko, 9-Valentin Belkovich, 10-Vladimir Makovsky (18-Petr Kachuro 72)

Photos by Dylan Martinez REUTERS (October 14, 1998, Cardiff, Wales)

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