BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

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Eight years on, Belarus bask in hot spell

ALAN PATTULLO

ALTHOUGH the country's bid to turn itself into a tourist haven has not achieved quite the level of success desired on the football pitch, at least Belarus has been identified as something of a hot spot.

Ranked 104 in the world when Scotland last made the trip to Minsk, the Belarus team have improved almost as markedly as the Scots have declined, offering some solace to a country which earlier this year was declared a highly unattractive destination for tourists.

Five years ago President Alexander Lukashenko conceived a plan to bring 1.75million visitors to the country every year by 2005, but in February figures showed only 64,000 foreigners came to Belarus last year. Next-door neighbours Lithuania were at the same time rolling out the welcome mat to three million visitors.

Even this summer's Tartan Army invasion is not likely to swell the numbers to an acceptable level, with only the Belarus football team offering the nation a reason for a patriotic swelling of heart at present.

Perhaps the president should have sent for Anatoly Baidachny when devising this tourist scheme. The former Dynamo Minsk manager, together with predecessor Eduard Malofeyev, has succeeded in making others sit up and take notice of the nation, with Belarus now sitting in 63rd position in the FIFA world rankings, 22 places above Scotland.

They have moved from dark horses in Group 5 to strong contenders for a play-off place, leaving Italy shaken and stirred along the way.

It is a long way from the state of the country's football in 1997, when Scotland last came calling in search of points to sustain a World Cup dream. Gary McAllister's penalty winner eight years ago today set Scotland on their way to World Cup qualification in France, and helped Scotland achieve an all-time rankings high of 20 in 2000.

Belarus fell to 114 but since the millennium have evolved into one of Europe's tricksters, relied upon to cause most opponents untold problems. Italy can testify to this, having required a last-minute goal to win in Parma eight months ago. Had Belarus held out for the 3-3 draw it would have rivalled their best result to date, a 1-0 win over a Holland side then ranked No9 in the world during qualification for Euro 96. It was, perhaps, the start of a long ascent up the footballing ladder, with independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 necessitating a period of acclimatisation.

The nation very nearly qualified for the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan, finishing third in their qualifying group just behind Ukraine and well above Wales. It was a far better performance than their first qualifying campaign for the previous World Cup when Belarus finished last in their group, having beaten only Estonia.

While the country is clearly moving in the right direction, it has not always been a smooth passage up the FIFA rankings, with a disappointing qualifying campaign for Euro 2004 reaping just one victory and making Scotland's campaign under Berti Vogts seem like a roaring success by comparison.

But Belarus sorted themselves out this time around, and have already been named as the second most dangerous side in the group after Italy by Walter Smith. This isn't simply flattery. In Aleksandr Hleb they possess one of the finest young players in Europe today, and he is supported by two team-mates of similarly high standard in Valentin Balkevich of Dynamo Kiev and Vitaly Kutozov, who plays in Italy with Sampdoria.

Hleb is already well known to the defences of the Old Firm, since he has played against both Celtic and Rangers in European combat, finishing on the losing side in both ties for VfB Stuttgart. But his deeds for the Bundesliga side have alerted Arsenal and Manchester United, and the player is valued at ?10 million.

In Germany he was known as the Sorcerer's Apprentice, having emerged when an understudy to Krassimir Balakov, the Bulgarian playmaker. Hleb has proved a fitting successor but has risked sacrificing his talents on an altar of recklessness.

The striker has missed the majority of his side's World Cup qualifiers after being sent-off for kicking an opponent during last summer's Under-21 European Championship finals in Germany. Hleb was also involved in a car crash at the end of December last year, when his Audi collided with a BMW in Minsk. A passenger in the other car later died in hospital.

But while this season has had its traumatic moments for Hleb, he returned to the national side for the 1-1 draw with Slovenia in March and is currently eyeing Scotland with a mixture of desire and contempt. "Scotland are a typical British primitive team," he has said. "With the fans' support within our walls we have to take maximum points."

Should this happen it will be much to President Lukashenko's pleasure, even if it means another group of unsatisfied visitors will have little will to return to a country where their World Cup hopes perished.

Source:

http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=626942005