International Friendly: Belarus - Honduras

Posted Thursday, May 27, 2010 by Goal.com

The CONCACAF team will be looking to warm up with a win.....

Kick-Off: Thursday, May 27, 18:30 CET.
Villach Stadthalle, Villach, Austria.

Looking Beyond The World Cup

Belarus have not qualified for the World Cup finals in South Africa next month and actually didn't even come close to doing so. However, they will be looking beyond the summer and towards the Euro 2012 qualifiers that start in September this year.

Belarus have been pitted against France, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Luxembourg in the group stages in the Euro 2012 qualifiers and indeed they will be looking forward to their next three friendly matches to gel. On Thursday, Bernd Stange's side take on Honduras and their next couple of games are against South Korea and Sweden.

Warming Up For The World Cup

Honduras are in Group H along with European champions and World Cup favourites Spain, South American side Chile and Switzerland. Spain and Chile are strong favourites to qualify from this group for the knockout stages but the Hondurans will certainly have other plans.

Reinaldo Rueda's side qualified automatically for the main event in South Africa after finishing third behind the USA and Mexico in the CONCACAF region. Encouragingly, they finished ahead of Costa Rica.

The Honduran national team is in Austria at the moment, where they are holding their pre-World Cup camp. After playing Belarus on Thursday, Rueda's side will take on Azerbaijan and Romania before flying to South Africa.

FORM GUIDE

Belarus

March 3: Armenia 1-3 Belarus (Friendly)

November 18: Montenegro 1-0 Belarus (Friendly)

November 14: Saudi Arabia 1-1 Belarus (Friendly)

October 14: England 3-0 Belarus (World Cup qualifier)

October 10: Belarus 4-0 Kazakhstan (World Cup qualifier)

Honduras

April 21: Honduras 0-1 Venezuela (Friendly)

March 3: Turkey 2-0 Honduras (Friendly)

January 23: USA 1-3 Honduras (Friendly)

November 18: Honduras 1-2 Peru (Friendly)

November 15: Honduras 2-1 Latvia (Friendly)

TEAM NEWS

Belarus

Aliaksandr Hleb couldn't join the squad in Austria on Monday for health reasons while Aliaksandr Kulchiy was unavailable because of family circumstances.

Probable Line-up (4-4-2): Vyaremka, Shitov, Lentsevich, Sosnowski, Yurevich; Kalachev, Kislyak, Putsila, Kovel; Kutuzov, Kornilenko

Honduras

Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda is likely to put out a strong line-up given that he has already selected his final 23 men for the World Cup finals. Tottenham Hotspur's Wilson Palacios is expected to start and so is Edgar Alvarez of Bari in midfield. Italy-based David Suazo and Georgie Welcome, who replaced the injured Carlos Costly, are expected to be the two strikers up front.

Probable Line-up (4-4-2): Valladares, Bernardez, Figueroa, Izaguirre, Sabillon; Julio Leon, Alvarez, Palacios, Turcios; Suazo, Welcome

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Vitali Kutuzov (Belarus)

The Bari striker will be a key player against Honduras on Thursday. An important player for the Italian side, the 30-year-old striker will be lurking in and around the Honduran penalty box and will look to take his chances when they come.

Wilson Palacios (Honduras)

The much heralded Tottenham Hotspur midfielder will be one of the main players for Honduras at the World Cup finals in South Africa and he will be looking to do something productive against Belarus. Palacios has developed massively in the Premier League and proved himself to be a player who can succeed at the highest level while he was at Wigan Athletic, and he will be looking to terrorise the Belarussian defence on Thursday.

PREDICTION

It promises to be a keenly contested match. Although Belarus are not a World Cup team, they will give Honduras a run for their money. However, it should end in a draw.

Belarus 1-1 Honduras