Belarusian national team not lucky with World Cup qualifications rivals

The draw for football World Cup-2014 took place in Rio-de-Janeiro this Saturday. 53 European teams were divided into 9 groups (8 of them consist of 6 national teams, one - of 5). The Belarusian national team got into the basket No. 3 in accordance with the rating for the first time ever, but it did not help us with the group rivals. Moreover, Belarus got into the only group with 5 teams (including the world champion Spain!). 

Group A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland, Macedonia, Wales 
Group B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta. 
Group C: Germany, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan. 
Group D: Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra. 
Group E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland. 
Group F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg 
Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Lichtenstein 
Group H: England, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, San Marino 
Group I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland

The games in the nine European groups will start on September 7, 2012 and end on October 15, 2013. 13 European teams will go to Brasil. Winners of the nine groups will go to the final tournament automatically, and the teams wich will get to the second places will play against each other in November 2013. The winners will also go to Brasil.

Chief coach of the Belarusian national team Berndt Stange has commented the results of the draw to "Pressball": "Our group's the most complicated one. The third basket did not help us: we got two grands as rivals. I've talked to Laurent Blanc - he is in shock. As for me, I feel calm, vice versa. Yes, it will be hard to play against France and Spain. But we should not be afraid of anyone. Arrival of such teams will become a real gift to Belarusian football fans".

Photo — bymedia.net