Slavia Mozyr - BATE Match Preview

Slavia Mozyr face BATE Borisov at Yunost Stadium, for the first leg of Belarusian Cup’s semifinals.

Slavia is playing decent at the moment in Vysshaya League, where they have a two-win streak, sitting in 5th place of the standings with 6 points, after 3 rounds played. They have 2 wins and one loss in their opening game, having scored 5 goals and conceded also 5 times.

In the previous round of the Belarusisn Cup, Slavia Mozyr eliminated FK Dnyapro Mogliev, right before the start of the new season of the Vysshaya League, with two comfortable wins, 3-0 each.

BATE Borisov is the best club in the history of Belarusian football, however, they started terribly the new season. BATE has lost their first two games, something very rare for a club that, before the previous season that finished in a second place, they had 12 consecutive titles in the Vysshaya League. In their most recent league game BATE won 1-0 over Rukh much more comfortably than the final score indicates.

In the Cup competition, BATE eliminated Dinamo Minsk in the previous round winning twice, 1-2 and 3-2. 

Slavia Mozyr is quite a mediocre side, that will most likely end up in the middle of the standings rather than a side that could fight for a European spot. On the other hand, BATE is looking for a winning streak in the league to become for another season the big favorites for the title.

However, this is a cup game, and I could not rule out an upset, at least in this first leg. Actually, I do not forget that the hosts prevailed in their h2h league game, a couple of weeks ago. Instead of a winner, I will place a bet on goals here, both teams to score is my final call.