Courtesy: FIFA

Belarus triumph over adversity

(FIFA.com) 04 Jan 2005

The 2004 Partially Sighted Football World Championships came to a close in Manchester in December with a faultless Belarus side retaining their crown.
Success for Belarus represents another step in their long-term campaign for partially sighted football to be introduced at the Paralympic Games for 2008 in Beijing. The team produced consistent performances, from their opening game demolition of Korea to an eye-catching rout of Russia in the all Eastern European Final.

In front of a spirited crowd at the National Cycling Centre, Belarus swept aside an overwhelmed Russian team 8-2, and stamped their dominance on partially sighted soccer for another two years. Instrumental to the side's progress was the partnership of twins Aliaksander and Pavel Sashnianin, who displayed impressive awareness and clinical finishing.

The achievement of retaining their world championship crown owes much to the solidarity of a squad that has played together for five years and to the commitment provided by the Belarus FA.

"Our FA ensures that the team has professional coaching and also that our scouting system is of the highest quality. They do not only search for young players but also footballers that have become partially sighted over a length of time," Belarus FA official Nikolay Shudeyko said.

This winning formula also saw the side victorious at the previous World Championships in Italy in 2002, and showed hosts England how far they have to come to match the world's best.

Although England promised much with a 19-2 thrashing of Cyprus on the opening night, the same side fell to a 3-0 defeat against the eventual fourth placed Ukraine on day four. Before the start of the championships England head coach Graham Keeley had picked Spain and Belarus as the two main threats to his side's quest for home glory, but in the event they failed to go further than the initial group phase.

The prestigious World Championships featured 12 teams from all corners of world football. The passion and pride with which the players conducted themselves made for an intriguing spectacle. Belarus in particular epitomised why disability football deserves wider exposure.

Their rise to the summit of partially sighted football is one of the most emotional examples in sport of triumph over tragedy. After watching his colleagues lift the Championship trophy, Shudeyko said: "After a nuclear accident contaminated Belarus in 1983, over 2000 people each year are diagnosed in our country as partially sighted. For the Belarus team to be at the forefront of the game's push for greater coverage and investment means a great deal."

Italy's influential Number 3 Fabio Tateo neatly described the dominance of the two time World Champions: "Belarus - another planet."

Although no team could match the ability of the Belarussians, every player involved in the event contributed to the overwhelming sense of unity to achieve their goal of propelling the game onto and beyond the Olympic stage