San Marino VS Belarus Match Prediction
2018-11-18
17:00:00
San Marino
VS
Belarus
Our Prediction Tip
Belarus will win this match.
2018-11-1817:00:00 Belarus will win this match.
Belarus won 5-0 at home San Marino in September – the first time the two teams had ever faced each other in international football. Igor Stasevich opened the scoring and Stanislav Dragun doubled the lead before half-time. Anton Saroko’s penalty and late goals for Dragun and Yuri Kovalev sealed a 5-0 win.
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Belarus have put themselves in the driving seat in Group D2 and anything less than the win they need against San Marino to top the group will be a huge surprise.
San Marino’s current losing streak stands at 26 games, including a 5-0 defeat when they last faced Belarus, and the Belarussians could repeat that scoreline.
The Sammarinese were much tighter against Moldova last time out but their lack of anything resembling a goal threat means just conceding one goal in usually enough – as proved the case in that game.
Belarus, on the other hand, were beating Luxembourg to move back top, with Stanislav Dragun scoring twice. He also scored twice in the opening game, against San Marino, and is the top scorer in the group.
Belarus might well have been an expected fourth-tier nation in the UEFA Nations League but they are still a level above the minnows that are San Marino.
Belarus will win this game and they should win it to nil, with plenty of goals scored. It was five in Belarus and anything less than at least another three would be surprising.
As you would expect, Belarus are huge odds-on favourites to beat San Marino with Betfair offering 1/20 on an away win.
You can back against both teams to score at 2/7 with Betfair and Paddy Power – which you should, given San Marino’s hopeless record in front of goal – while a Belarus win to nil is a much more generous best price of 4/11.
With four goals in the competition so far, Stanislav Dragun will hope to add to his goals tally, while you can get 31/20 from Betfair and Paddy Power on there being over 3.5 goals.
Belarus to score in both halves will return 6/10, meanwhile, and for the visitors to win by four or more goals – as they did at home when they won 5-0 – is 11/5.
Belarus will seal top spot with a win and anything less than that would be a huge surprise. They should win very comfortably.
Captain and goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini is one of several players missing from the San Marino squad for this month’s internationals, with Tre Penne midfielder Alex Gasperoni, who was suspended for the Moldova game, defender Cristian Brolli and striker Mattia Stefanelli also absent. Luca Censoni was an unused sub against Moldova and so must wait for his international debut but Nicola Nanni made his. Matteo Vitaioli is suspended up front and Fabio Tomassini or Filippo Berardi could start in his place.
Nicola Nanni – The teenage Crotone striker made his debut last time out and will be looking for a goal to enter Sammarinese sporting folklore.
Elia Benedettini – The absence of Aldo Simoncini gives him a chance to stake his claim for a regular starting spot in goal.
Mirko Palazzi – The Tre Penne defender remains the last Sammarinese player to score, having netted in a 5-1 defeat to Azerbaijan in September 2017.
Still with just one win to their name in their entire footballing history, San Marino’s current losing streak stands at 26 games since a goalless draw with Estonia in November 2014. In the UEFA Nations League, they lost 5-0 to Belarus and 3-0 to Luxembourg in September, suffered 2-0 and 3-0 defeats away to Moldova and Luxembourg respectively in October and, last time out, suffered a 1-0 loss to Moldova at home.
Alexandr Hleb is set for his final game in a Belarus shirt, where he will likely partner top scorer Stanislav Dragun in midfield. Dragun and Anton Saroka were booked in the Luxembourg game but neither were on yellow cards meaning Belarus will be at full strength. Andrey Gorbunov played in goal, but Sergey Chernik could return having shared goalkeeping duties with the Dinamo Minsk veteran so far.
Stanislav Dragun – His double against Luxembourg last time out put Belarus top of the group and, having scored two against San Marino in the opening game too, he is top scorer in League D.
Alexandr Hleb – Set for his Belarussian farewell, the former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder will want to go out with a bang.
Pavel Savitski – The Dinamo Brest man is the top scorer in the Belarussian Premier League this season with 15 goals.
Belarus are unbeaten in the UEFA Nations League so far, with their last defeat having been against Finland in a friendly in June. That was also the last time Belarus conceded, having kept five clean sheets from five since. They beat San Marino 5-0 in their opening game, with Stansilav Dragun netting two of the five, before a goalless draw with Moldova. Anton Saroka scored his second of the tournament in a 1-0 win against Luxembourg before they were held again by Moldova, but Dragun’s double in Luxembourg puts them in pole position in the group.
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