Dinamo Minsk vs Rukh Brest Match Preview

Dinamo Minsk is one of the traditional names of the Belarussian football. However, they have not won a title for many seasons now. Last season they finished 4th, having 25 points less than champions Dinamo Brest. They didn’t even reach a spot for the European competitions.

They started the new season losing twice to BATE (1-2 in their home, 2-3 on the road) and got excluded from the cup’s semifinals. Earlier, in their preparation games, they saw that they need time to adopt their many newcomers, actually, in their 8 preparation games since late January they won only once.

Rukh Brest was founded in 2016 as an amateur team. In 2018, they re-established themselves as a farm club of Dinamo Brest. They won Second League in their debut season and made their Belarusian First League debut in 2019, winning the promotion to the Belarussian Premier League through the playoffs. Before the start of the season they ended their partnership with Dinamo Brest and became an independent club.

Nobody could assure that they cut ties with Dinamo Brest, as the owner of champions Dinamo Brest, Aliaksandr Zaitsau, is rumored to be behind the shceme of the Russian company that acquired the shares of Rukh Brest a couple of months ago. We cannot ignore also that more than 15 players of their squad have played in the past for Dinamo Brest. In their preparation games they had a quite good performance, having won 5 out of 10 games (5-1-4). This could be a sign that they are ready to be competitive in the top level of Belarussian football.

Dinamo Minsk target a European spot, this could be probably the best they can do with their current roster. At the same time, newcomers Rukh Brest have as a main target to maintain their spot in the Belarusian Premier League. I expect a close game here and I believe that the offered odds underestimate the away team’s potential. I do not rule out another upset in the beginning of the season, yesterday title contenders Shakhtyor lost their opening home game to Torpedo BelAZ. Anyway, the offered odds are 12.00 for the away win, and they are not to be missed.