Here’s our Northern Ireland Vs Belarus preview, prediction, team news and confirmed lineups ahead of Friday’s Nations League fixture.
Northern Ireland Vs Belarus Preview
Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland side have won, drawn and lost in their last three matches.
Their most recent fixture was a 5-0 thumping of Bulgaria, with Isaac Price netting a hat-trick.
In the reverse of this week’s game, they drew 0-0 in Belarus, and had struggled to score prior to their big win last time out.
O’Neill has stressed his team need to improve offensively, and will be hoping they can begin against Belarus on Friday.
Belarus won 1-0 away in Luxembourg in September, and have drawn each of their three other matches.
With just two goals for and one against in four rounds of fixtures, we can perhaps expect another low-scoring affair.
The squad for our final senior men's games of 2024 has landed 👇🏻 #GAWA pic.twitter.com/dBxcojpgCF
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) November 5, 2024
Northern Ireland Vs Belarus Team News
O’Neill will stick with a back three of Ciaron Brown, Daniel Ballard and Trai Hume ahead of Pierce Charles in goal.
Liverpool’s Conor Bradley will start, along with Shea Charles and Alistair McCann.
Up front, Dion Charles, Isaac Price and Paul Smyth will look to secure the goals.
Belarus are also going with a back three, as Aleksandr Martynovich, Sergei Politevich and Pavel Zabelin are chosen.
Yevgeni Shikavka will lead the line, with Valeriy Gromyko and German Barkovsky on either wing.
Northern Ireland Vs Belarus Confirmed Lineups
Northern Ireland Lineup:
P Charles; Hume, Ballard, Brown; Bradley, McCann, S Charles, Spencer; Price, Smyth, D Charles
Belarus Lineup:
Lapoukhov; Martynovich, Politevich, Zabelin; Pigas, Yablonskiy, Selyava, Pechenin; Barkovsky, Gromyko, Shikavka
Northern Ireland Vs Belarus Prediction
Hosts Northern Ireland have a good record on home soil, in contrast to Belarus’ poor away form in the Nations League.
For that reason, we expect O’Neill’s side to win, though it could be a cagey match due to how few goals Belarus have conceded so far.
Prediction: Northern Ireland 1-0 Belarus
