Next Saturday, 15th of November 2014, the current European champions, Spain, will entertain a fragile Belarus at Estadio Nuevo Colombino in Huelva for the Euro 2016 Qualifiers, on a match that the Spanish need to win, especially after their surprising defeat at the hands of Slovakia earlier last month.

After a very disappointing stint at the Brazilian World Cup last Summer, the current performances of the Spanish team have not improved significantly. Vicente Del Bosque has introduced some slight changes in the team, by bringing in several new faces, although he didn’t change much on La Roja’s game style. Spain’s inconsistent defence line, along with the connectivity problems between the team’s lines, have cost them a painful defeat against the Slovaks, who are currently at the top of the group with three wins from three matches.

The Spanish manager keeps pushing his usual 4-3-3 system, placing Iniesta alongside with Fàbregas and Busquets in the midfield line and relying on Koke, David Silva and Diego Costa as the frontman trio.

Nevertheless, for the clash against Belarus, Del Bosque will have to deal with several absences related to injury problems. Barça’s gifted midfielder Iniesta, Manchester City’s David Silva and Chelsea’s sharpshooter Diego Costa will all miss the match against the Eastern team.

To mitigate their absences, Del Bosque called Celta’s flamboyant winger Nolito, Málaga’s all-terrain midfielder Camacho and Juventus' young forward Alvaro Morata.

Next weekend’s match against Belarus should not present any major obstacles to the current European champions, although, the last time both sides measured forces on Spanish soil, La Roja only won by 2-1.

As for Belarus, they are definitely far from enjoying a positive moment so far, with just one point from their three qualifying matches. The team’s recent poor results dictated the departure of Georgi Kondratiev, who had been at the helm of the team since 2011. The former Soviet international Andrei Zygmantovich, who interestingly enjoyed a successful stint at Spanish football back in his days, when he represented Racing Santander, is the team’s current caretaker, while the Belarus football association continues their search for a new head coach.

Belarus are a strange case of inconsistency and underachieving performances, especially if we consider the quality of some of their players, such as Aleksandr Hleb, Vitali Rodionov, Stanislaw Drahun, Sergey Krivets and Anton Putsila. Belarus is a team striving for a competent leadership and for now it is up to Zygmantovich to fulfil such an herculean task.

Spain are firm favourites for the next Saturday match at Huelva, although the managerial change might offer the Belarus side the boost they need to overcome their recent poor streak.

Spain

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - WLWLW

Belarus

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - LLDWW

Possible Line-ups

Spain (4-3-3) – De Gea - Carvajal - S. Ramos - San José - Alba - Busquets - Koke - Fàbregas - Cazorla - D. Silva - Diego Costa

Belarus (4-5-1) – Hutar - Shitov - Filipenko - Martynovich - Bardachow - Drahun - Kislyak - Krivets - Kalachev - Balanovich - Rodionov

Prediction

Spain 2 Belarus 0