How it happened
Belarus took the lead after one minute, and it was enough. Artem Shumanskiy scored the only goal of the League C, Group 1 fixture at the Stadion Rudolf Illovszky in Budapest, and his side led 1-0 at half-time.
The second half brought no goal and no red cards. Finland, the designated away side, kept pressing without finding an equaliser, and Belarus saw the match out for a 1-0 win on Matchday 4. Kick-off was at 18:45 UTC, under cloud and at 18C.
Referee Sascha Stegemann oversaw a match decided by the earliest goal possible.
The numbers
Finland dominated the ball, with 74% possession to Belarus's 26%. They also had 13 shots to six and won five corners to one.
Yet the chances were more balanced than those figures suggest. Each side put two shots on target, and Belarus finished with the higher expected goals total, 1.00 to 0.71.
Shumanskiy's match rating of 8.1 was the highest of the three standout players supplied. He played 45 minutes, had 24 touches and scored once. Belarus defender Kirill Pechenin followed with a rating of 7.9 over 90 minutes and 65 touches. Finland's Adam Markhiev, who had a match rating of 7.8, made 78 touches and one key pass.
What it means
Belarus arrived with the stronger recent record: five wins, four draws and one defeat from their last 10, with 16 goals scored and eight conceded, an average of 1.9 points per match. Finland had won four, drawn one and lost five, scoring 16 and conceding 14, an average of 1.3.
The sides had met on 29 September, when it finished 0-0. Before this match Belarus had not beaten Finland in four meetings, which brought two Finland wins and two draws. This result changes that record.
Group table positions were not supplied, so the effect on the standings is not covered here.