The chase for the 2016 European Cup will take its next step on Thursday. Two teams attempting to qualify for the tournament will do battle in a match between Belarus and Ukraine. The contest scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET will be held at the Borisov Arena in Borisov and can be live streamed here free. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN Deportes+.
Match Background (via UEFA):
Belarus' record in seven previous matches against Ukraine is 1-3-3 and 0-2-2 in competitive matches. Their record in three home matches against Ukraine is 0-2-1. All those competitive encounters came in the 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns, with Belarus failing to score in any of them. Though, two of the matches ended in scoreless draws. The sole Belarusian victory against Ukraine came in a 2002 friendly tournament, with Valentin Belkevich and Aleksandr Hleb scoring each.
Recent Form
Belarus are unbeaten in their last four matches (2-2-0) and in their last three home games. They kicked off Group C with a 1-1 away draw against Luxembourg. Ukraine lost their opening Group C game 1-0 to Slovakia, but were unbeaten in four group stage away games in their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying group (3-2-0), scoring 16 goals and conceding just two on the road.
Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: Ukraine's Andriy Yarmolenko has made eight appearances in the Ukrainian Premier League, scoring five goals in domestic competition. In two additional Europa league appearances, the 24-year-old has two goals and two assists.
Belarus' Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Zhevnov; Martynovich, Filipenko, Shitov, Verkhovtsov; Kalachev, Kisylak, Krivets, Balanovich, Olekhnovich; Yanush
Ukraine's Projected Lineup (4-4-2): Pyatov; Shevchuk, Kucher, Fedetskiy, Rakitskiy; Gusev, Stepanenko, Kovalchuk, Edmar; Zozulya, Yarmolenko
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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