Kazakhstan will host Belarus at the Astana Arena in Astana on Thursday (September 22) in the UEFA Nations League, looking to seal their promotion to League B.
With ten points in four games, the Hawks are first in Group 3 of League C, and a win over Belarus will confirm their promotion. Belarus, meanwhile, are at the bottom of the group with just two points, and another loss here will condemn them to the relegation playouts.
The White Wings are one of the eight teams in League C that haven't won a game this season, while scoring the joint-fewest goals with one. Ironically, that strike came in the 1-1 draw with the Kazakhs in June, with Vladislav Malkevich cancelling out Abat Aymbetov's first-half opener.
Kazakhstan vs Belarus Head-To-Head
Kazakhstan have never won against Belarus in their previous six meetings, losing four times.
In their previous Nations League clash in June, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw in Minsk.
Kazakhstan Form Guide (all competitions): W-D-W-W-L
Belarus Form Guide (all competitions): L-D-D-L-W
Kazakhstan vs Belarus Team News
Kazakhstan
The Hawks have called up a massive 33-man squad for their Nations League fixtures against Belarus and Azerbaijan this month.
Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov is back in the mix and will likely play from the start for the hosts. He needs just one more goal to become the third player in his team's history to hit double figures for goals.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Belarus
The White Wings have scored just once in this season's Nations League in four games. Manager Georgy Kondratyev will look to bolster hisattacking vanguard. Yegor Bogomolsky could start as the centre-forward.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Kazakhstan vs Belarus Predicted XIs
Kazakhstan (5-4-1): Igor Shatskiy; Mikhail Gabyshev, Nuraly Alip, Serhiy Malyi, Aleksandr Marochkin, Timur Dosmagambetov; Elkhan Astanov, Aslan Darabaev, Askhat Tagybergen, Yan Vorogovskiy; Abat Aymbetov
Belarus (4-4-1-1): Pavel Pavlyuchenko; Gleb Shevchenko, Syarhey Palitsevich, Ruslan Khadarkevich, Kiryl Pyachenin; Max Ebong, Valery Bocherov, Yevgeny Yablonskiy, Pavel Sedko; Vladislav Klimovich; Yegor Bogomolsky
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Kazakhstan vs Belarus Prediction
Kazakhstan have never beaten Belarus but won't get a better opportunity to end the jinx than this one.
The White Wings are not in their best shape right now, so the hosts could go all out in search of a win that will also seal their promotion.
Prediction: Kazakhstan 2-1 Belarus