Belarus v England October 2008

Legs.


Belarus - Minsk


From Sofia via Berlin and Vilnius to the Belarus capital.

After the conviviality of a restaurant in Sofia to an Irish bar near the Berlin Zoo for some (middle-of-the-road) music and a couple of cocktails.

Up early for a flight to Vilnius - 'Double Coffee' lunch and some Internet browsing.

Then a four/five train uneventful ride to Minsk amongst some compatriots.

Where it seemed kind of communist-lite.
Though the government does control the heating - the availability of gas etc is restricted until a specified date which means if it suddenly gets cold, unless you have independent control of your energy, many do suffer.
The weather is cool , some rain but eventually mainly dry .

Wide streets , friendly people and without the feeling of a security culture as in Russia.

There are some good museums, parks, decent architecture and characteristically attractive 'scenery'.

But its a struggle , without local knowledge, to identify good restaurants and bars as their presence is not identified the same way as in the West.

Though McDonald's does not have that problem.


Convincing.

Belarus 1 England 3

Some difficulty for our guys in the first half as the locals opened some spaces in the England defence for a period but in the 2nd we had it well under control , helped by an early Rooney goal.


It was another strong away result against a team who could pass it around.

Heskey enjoying a renaissance, was spirited , Walcott pacy as expected and Gerrard got a Liverpool -like cracker.

Rooney , spikey and back to his best.

The uncovered, centrally located stadium was nearly full except for the upper tier above the main stand - restricted because of safety concerns.

The atmosphere was not as intimidating as Croatia (for instance) - the Belarussians generally not having too high expectations for their team.

It looked like there was no spectator problems.

more pics at http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/75227628