Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s friendly clash between Malta and Belarus, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Malta will be bidding to build on a positive result against Slovenia last time out when they welcome Belarus to Ta’ Qali for an international friendly on Tuesday night.
The home side will enter the contest off the back of a 2-2 draw with Slovenia on Thursday, while Belarus suffered a 2-0 defeat to Montenegro on the same night.
Match preview
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Malta managed to end a four-game losing run on Thursday, drawing 2-2 with Slovenia in Ta’ Qali, with Matthew Guillaumier and Steve Pisani on the scoresheet for the national side.
Michele Marcolini‘s side failed to make an impression in their qualification section for Euro 2024, finishing bottom of Group C on zero points from eight matches, and they only scored twice and conceded 20 times.
Malta’s wait to qualify for the finals of a major international tournament has therefore continued, and their focus will now be on the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League, with their campaign beginning on September 7.
The Reds will face Andorra and Moldova in Group 2 of League D, and they will be bidding to win a competitive match for the first time since the middle of 2022.
Malta have faced Belarus on four previous occasions, losing three of those matches, including a 1-0 defeat when the two teams last locked horns in February 2008.
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Belarus have also failed to qualify for Euro 2024, but a positive campaign saw them pick up 12 points from 10 matches, which was enough for fourth position in Group I.
Carlos Alos‘s side can undoubtedly take positives from the qualification section, especially as they ended Group I with back-to-back victories over Andorra and Kosovo.
Belarus will enter this match off the back of a defeat, though, having done down 2-0 to Montenegro on Thursday, which made it back-to-back friendly losses, having also been beaten by Oman in late 2022.
The national side will also begin their 2024-25 UEFA Nations League campaign in September, with Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Northern Ireland their opponents in Group 3 of League C.
Belarus will view this match as the ideal chance to return to winning ways ahead of the return of competitive action, and they have only conceded once in their previous four games against Malta.
Malta friendly form:
Malta form (all competitions):
Belarus friendly form:
Belarus form (all competitions):
Team News
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Malta boss Marcolini is building relationships and patterns of play in his squad with a view to looking to the future, so there are unlikely to be wholesale changes from the last match.
A 3-5-2 formation is again expected to be the set-up, with Paul Mbong being joined in the final third of the field by Luke Montebello despite the fact that neither has scored for the national side to date.
Joseph Mbong should again feature in a wing-back position for the home side, while Yannick Yankam, who plays his club football in the United States, is in line to retain his position in central midfield.
As for Belarus, there will be changes from the side that took to the field for the first whistle against Montenegro, with head coach Alos set to make the most of his squad.
Max Ebong is one of those likely to keep their spots, though, with the 24-year-old the leading goalscorer in the squad with five, and he is in line to earn his 37th cap on Tuesday night.
Denis Laptev, Dmitry Antilevsky and Vladislav Morozov are in line to feature in the final third of the field, while 19-year-old Artyom Shumansky will be hoping to make his international debut in this contest.
Malta possible starting lineup:
Bonello; S Borg, Muscat, J Borg; J Mbong, Pisani, Guillaumier, Yankam, Corbalan; P Mbong, Montebello
Belarus possible starting lineup:
Pavlyuchenko; Polyakov, Politevich, Pyachenin, Shevchenko; Ebong, Korzun, Yablonsky; Laptev, Antilevsky, Morozov
We say: Malta 1-1 Belarus
Malta will be full of confidence following their strong result against Slovenia, and we are backing the home side to make it two games unbeaten against Belarus at the Ta’ Qali National Stadium on Tuesday night.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
