Belarus and Montenegro meet in neutral Turkey for an international friendly at the Mardan Sports Complex on Thursday evening.
Designated hosts Belarus will seek a first-ever win over their upcoming opponents, with both entering the New Year on the back of respectable Euro qualifying campaigns.
Match preview
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Neither nation reached Euro 2024 or had a playoff spot to fall back on, but Montenegro in particular will still be wondering what if, as they came agonisingly close to leapfrogging neighbours Serbia to a spot at the finals.
Losing home and away to Serbia was costly, as was a draw away in Lithuania, which eventually saw Montenegro finish three points behind the top two.
Taking 10 points in their four encounters with Bulgaria and Lithuania suggests they are competent at beating nations a level below them, but it ultimately was not enough as the Brave Falcons still chase a first-ever major tournament as an independent nation.
Ending 2023 with three straight home wins is a big positive, but their form outside Montenegro is nothing to write home about, with seven defeats in their last 10 on the road.
With the UEFA Nations League the next thing for Montenegro to look forward to, this ambitious set of players may have their sights on an unlikely promotion to League A.
In the last edition, they beat Romania home and away to send the Tricolorii down to League C, maintaining their place in League B, where they will next face Turkey, Wales and Iceland.
While Montenegro have not been great travellers, Belarus have had to get used to playing away from home, as they have not been permitted to play on home soil since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
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Many other sports banned Belarusian athletes and teams, but UEFA and FIFA have kept them in for now, and they proved a useful outfit in Euro 2024 qualifying.
Despite never really being in contention to qualify, Carlos Alos took charge of the final six group matches and picked up a very impressive nine points.
Belarus were often spoilers to the nations fighting for qualification in Group I, which became one of the most intriguing sections, as Switzerland and Romania were both held by the White Wings before sealing automatic progress to the finals.
'Home' and away wins over Kosovo also proved their capabilities to be competitive, and they should go into the next Nations League campaign confident of challenging for promotion, facing Luxembourg, Northern Ireland and Bulgaria.
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Team News
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Montenegro manager Robert Prosinecki is without a number of usual picks for this international window, with Slobodan Rubezic, Nikola Sipcic, Andrija Radulovic and Milutin Osmajic all injured.
Osmajic's absence is mitigated by the fact Stevan Jovetic is available, fresh from scoring his first UEFA club goal in 14 years, which turned an incredible tie on its head for Olympiacos against Maccabi Tel-Aviv last week.
In attack, Jovetic is likely to partner Nikola Krstovic, who will be hoping to end a current goalscoring rut, while Millwall's Matija Sarkic could earn just his third cap in goal since 2021.
Many members of Belarus' previous squad have dropped out here, with Vladislav Klimovich, Artem Kontsevoy, Roman Yuzepchuk and Zakhar Volkov among those not involved this time around.
Twenty of the 26-man squad play either domestically, or in one of Russia, Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan, but 19-year-old Lierse midfielder Maksim Kireyev could be one to watch here.
Belarus possible starting lineup:
Sarkic; Radunovic, Savic, Vujacic; Vesovic, Jankovic, Kuc, Camaj, A Vukcevic; Krstovic, Jovetic
Montenegro possible starting lineup:
Pavlyuchenko; Karpovich, Polyakov, Politevich, Malkevich; Korzun, Kaplenko, Ebong; Morozov, Skavysh, Antilevskiy
We say: Belarus 1-2 Montenegro
In four meetings since Montenegrin independence, there has been two draws, with the Brave Falcons claiming success on the other two occasions, including in their most recent fixture in 2019.
It is hard to see past another Montenegro win given their form in Euro 2024 qualifying, but Belarus sprung many surprises in their own group, so expect a close encounter here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
