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Both second legs of the semifinals of the Belarus Cup provided some intrigue. Both results went to the wire.
In the first match, BATE Borisov overame a 1-0 deficit to defeat Slavia Mozyr 2-0 at home, which gave BATE a 2-1 aggregate victory. BATE jumped out to a quick lead with a goal by Zahkar Volkov off of a deflected corner kick. The second goal took the wind out of Slavia’s sails when BATE Borisov scored their second goal on an own goal deflection off of a cross into the penalty area at the end of the first half. BATE were able to hold off Slavia in the second half in order to advance to the Belarus Cup final.
The second match between Dinamo Brest and Shakhtyor Soligorsk was a tale of two halves. This match turned out to be one of the best soccer matches in Belarus history. Although the match was in Soligorsk, Dinamo Brest jumped out quickly in the first half even though they won the the first leg 2-0 in Brest. Shakhtyor lost all of their home momentum within the first three minutes of the match when defender Sergey Politevich impolitely wrecked his knee when he planted wrong. Brest scored in the 19th minute when Shakhtyor’s defense could not even clear a header. Their lack of defense showed in the 38th minute when Dinamo Brest scored on a 2 versus 4 counterattack to now have a 4-0 aggregate lead at halftime. With two away goals in hand, Shakhtyor had to score five goals in the second half and hold Dinamo Brest at two goals in order to move on.
Instead of giving up, Shakhtyor went all out even though the odds were impossible. Nevertheless, Soligorsk fans were going wild as Shakhtyor scored four goals in the second half. Although the aggregate score was tied at 4-4, Dinamo Brest advanced to the Belarus Cup final.
