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Denmark's opponent delayed for 12 hours on nightmare journey before crucial qualifier

Belarus before a World Cup qualifying match in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary
Belarus before a World Cup qualifying match in Zalaegerszeg, HungaryAndrew Milligan / PA Images / Profimedia

Belarus did not have the best preparation for the World Cup qualifier against Denmark to be played in Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Saturday evening. The squad has been underway for about 18 hours, and by this time Friday afternoon (15.00), the team was still at the Polish border, where they had been held up for about 12 hours, according to the Belarusian Football Federation on their website.

According to the federation, the team departed at 22.00 CET on Thursday evening from Minsk, and thanks to the coordinated efforts of border guards, the journey across the Belarusian border took 1.5 hours. 

"Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the subsequent time spent in neutral territory and the subsequent passage through the Polish checkpoint lasted over 12 hours. For this reason, the federation had to coordinate a rescheduling of the Warsaw-Copenhagen charter flight, which had been pre-booked to streamline logistics to the match venue", the federation wrote on their website. 

According to the original plan, the Belarusian national team was to travel by bus to Vilnius, from where a charter flight was scheduled to depart. However, the route was adjusted in light of Lithuania's unilateral decision to completely close the border with Belarus on October 29th.

Therefore, the Belarusian national team's travel time to Denmark is currently 18 hours. The team also still has to travel to Warsaw and fly to Copenhagen. The pre-match press conference and training session at Parken Stadium are scheduled for 19:30 CET and 20:00 CET on Friday, respectively.