Stange - We will miss Hleb

Belarus hoping to cause an upset in Group 6

Last updated: 14th October 2008

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Hleb: Injured

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Bernd Stange admits Belarus will struggle to spring a surprise against England without the injured Alexander Hleb.

The Barcelona midfielder will miss Wednesday's 2010 World Cup qualifier in Minsk due to an ankle problem.

And Belarus coach Stange concedes that playing without the former Arsenal ace would be akin to Brazil being without Pele in his pomp.

"When someone like Hleb is injured, as he is at the moment, then the team are missing their Maradona, their Beckenbauer, their Pele," said Stange in the Daily Mail.

"It makes it even harder to spring a surprise."

Lack consistency

Belarus opened their qualification campaign with a 1-0 defeat in Ukraine before securing a 3-1 win away to Andorra.

With Croatia also in Group 6, Stange accepts Belarus will not be in the hunt to qualify for the World Cup, but he hopes his team can pull off a shock along the way.

He added: "We are in a group with England, Croatia and Ukraine, so our objective is to surprise the big teams, to put in a good performance.

"That's what we have been able to do so far and we will try to continue, but we lack consistency and just don't have enough good players at our disposal."