Belarus ends 2013 season with friendly victory over Japan

The Belarusian national football team finished the 2013 season with a narrow 1:0 home win against the Japanese side in a friendly match in Zhodino on 15 October.

The only goal came when Yan Tigorev found the net on 44 minutes.

The game was played at Zhodino’s Torpedo stadium and was officiated by the Lithuanian referee brigade headed by Sergejus Sliva.

In the first half Belarus did not have much ball possession and hoped for counter attacks. Japan had several good chances but failed to beat Belarus’ keeper Sergei Veremko who returned into the Belarusian squad after a controversial performance against France on 10 September. Before the end of the first half Belarus started pressing more and one of their attacks from the right hand side eventually ended in a goal. Yan Tigorev, set up by Timofei Kalachyov, released a great shot from distance for a 1:0 scoreline. After the break head coach Georgy Kondratyev’s Belarus had a solid game and did not let Japan level things up.