England-Belarus Preview: World Cup 2010 Qualification Match

England - Belarus

Wednesday 14 October 2009,

Wembley Stadium

World Cup 2010 Qualifier

Kick-Off: 20:00

England

England will be without the services of Wayne Rooney as they welcome Belarus to Wembley for the final match of Group Six qualifications for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Fabio Capello, who boasted a perfect record for England in World Cup qualifiers prior to Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Ukraine, will likely choose between Steven Gerrard, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Peter Crouch and Carlton Cole to partner Emile Heskey in attack for this upcoming England vs Belarus fixture.

Gerrard, who has been nursing a groin injury, may be odd man out as England have already booked their place in next summer’s finals. The Liverpool midfielder lasted only 45 minutes against Ukraine.

Robert Green will be a spectator after his red card against Ukraine reduced England to 10 men after only 15 minutes. David James replaced the West Ham keeper and put in an admirable display in the loss, and will likely feature again for England.

Rio Ferdinand has returned from injury but has yet to really leave his stamp on the game—at least not in a positive way. The Manchester United centre half appears to be searching for form and will hope to turn in an improved performance against Belarus on Wednesday.

Belarus

Belarus have been mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the World Cup for quite some time. Nevertheless, Bernd Stange’s men have put in a number of good performances recently to cap their qualifiers off on a high.

Saturday’s 4-0 pounding of Kazakhstan supplied the Belarusian supporters with reason to cheer in their final home game of the competition, and while Wednesday’s meeting with England will be little more than a formality, Belarus will want to round off their good run with a solid performance.

Timofei Kalachev, who plays his club football with FC Krylya Sovetov Samara in the Russian league, scored a brace against Kazakhstan on Saturday and could be one of a handful of players to watch. Still, Belarus will presumably be reserved to chasing the ball for the majority of the match.

Prediction

The England - Belarus meeting in October of last year saw England win 3-1 after a second half brace by Wayne Rooney capped off a solid away performance. Wayne Rooney will be a spectator on Wednesday night, but England have more than enough resources to call upon in his absence.

Although the match may be of little significance, England are expected to field a strong starting 11 and will want to finish their successful World Cup Qualification campaign on a high in front of their home crowd.

England - Belarus Prediction: England 4 - Belarus 0

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