Our prediction for this match:
Belarus and Russia, the two neighbouring countries, face each other at Dinamo Stadium in what will be their first meeting since 2015. Back then Russia defeated Belarus 4-2 in a friendly and Sbornaya Komanda are seen as favourites to win Friday’s encounter as well. Atalanta midfielder Aleksei Miranchuk is the most notable player in Valery Karpin’s team. CSKA striker Fyodor Chalov is widely expected to lead the line for the visitors.
The home side, on the other hand, played out a slim draw with Malta in their last warm-up game. Given the number of high-profile players in Valery Karpin’s team, away win should definitely be considered. Russia defenders should have Arouca attacker Vladislav Morozov at bay. Midfielder Max Ebong will be yet another man to watch in the home team. Anyhow, we predict that the visitors are going to pick up all three points from the Dinamo Stadium clash.
Highlighted Team (Russia):
While they won the 1960 European Championship, while losing in the final in 1964, 1972 and 1988 as Soviet Union, Russia have enjoyed little success since starting to compete as an independent country in 1992.
Their best result up to date is the third-placed finish at the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, while the team failed to get past the group stage at the World Cup finals in three attempts. However, with Russian Premier League getting stronger by the day, the national team have started to improve as well, and they now finally seem capable of matching the world’s top sides.
The new generation includes high-quality footballers such as Alan Dzagoev, Aleksandr Kokorin, Artyom Dzyuba and Oleg Shatov, while the likes of Igor Akinfeev, Sergei Ignashevich, Roman Shirokov and Yuri Zhirkov are nearing the closing stages of their careers. But, with plenty of exciting talent coming through the ranks, future definitely looks bright for the Russia national team.