Kutuzau drinking whiskey and cola while getting ready for the match with Bulgaria

One of the forwards of the Belarusian national football team Vital Kutuzau was noticed by an ERB reporter in one of Minsk cafés. It would not mean anything but for the fact that Zmitser Trauchuk noticed that the sportsman was drinking spirits Zmіtser Trauchuk: “I accidentally entered a Minsk café Rock House at about half past 11 p.m. and noticed Mr. Kutuzau with some pretty lady at one of the tables. The man was taking a rest. He was holding a goblet with some brown liquid similar to cognac in his hand”.

The European Radio for Belarus decided to find out what Mr. Kutiuzau drank on that evening. We phoned Rock House and asked the waiter who had served the football player about it:

“I saw him. He was taking a rest. He was accompanied by a girl and ordered whiskey and cola”.

It turns out that it was an alcoholic beverage. It is necessary to mention that players of the national team had had an unofficial party in Staiki several hours before. Maybe Vital decided to go to Rock House after the party.

ERB wondered if it was normal to drink alcoholic beverages 4 days before such an important match. We decided to ask experts about it. The head of the chair of sports medicine of the Belarusian Medical Academy Henadz Zaharodny, who worked in the national football team for 5 years, says:

“Drinking alcoholic beverages several days before a match is out of the question. Alcohol decomposition products block ferments responsible for the sportsman’s endurance. By the way, there are different types of alcohol. If a sportsman drinks one or two goblets of wine per day I see no problem in refusing from it two days before a match. But it should be red or white wine.  It shouldn’t be beer or some stronger spirits”.

By the way, there are clubs in France allowing their sportsmen to drink 100 grammes of red wine on the day of the match. But Henadz Zaharodny thinks that it is not acceptable for Belarusian football players:

“Some American and European clubs recommend about 150-200 grammes of red wine or a glass of beer after a match. But it is connected with the mentality of sportsmen. Football is a team game and when people having common interests gather together they cannot control the amount of spirits they can drink. So it may be hard to stick to the 100-200 recommended grammes”.

This season has been full of scandals. Lithuanian customs officers made the drunk Aleh Strahanovich get off the train at the beginning of spring. Then there was a scandal connected with Vital Bulyha – somebody broke him his cheek-bone when he was leaving a night club. He said he was sober though. Vital Kutuzau lodged a complaint about the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. Let us remind you that the edition accused the sportsman of alcohol abuse after a match for the national team.

Even the head coach Yury Puntus admitted that his players had violated the regime many times before the match with Romania.