Eliminatorias Rusia 2018: Gorbunov's mistakes cost Belarus dearly against Sweden
This past Saturday, March 25, another round of the European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was played. These long dates comprise many matches between world powers and amateur teams. In the match between Sweden and Belarus, the goalkeeper of the visiting team, Andrey Gorbunov, made two unforgivable blunders.
The first one happened at the 48th minute. His team was losing 1-0 at the Friends Arena when midfielder Emil Forsberg took a long-distance shot without much power. When the goalkeeper seemed to have everything under control and was ready to catch the ball, it slipped between his arms and crossed the goal line.
After this embarrassing moment, only 8 more minutes passed for him to make another mistake that ended in a goal. This time it happened at the 56th minute, after a cross from the left, Gorbunov went out to get the ball with his hands raised, but forward Marcus Berg outplayed him with a header that ended up inside the goal.
It is worth noting that Peruvian player Alexei Ríos was not only called up for the match but also played the full 90 minutes in Sweden's 4-0 victory over his national team, Belarus. After his participation, he will not be able to wear the national team's jersey due to having played two official matches with his second nationality.
