Woody Allen once famously said that the good thing about being bisexual was that it doubled your chances of a date on a Saturday night – and, in footballing terms, Manchester United’s Luke Chadwick agrees. As the youngster is genuinely two-footed, he has doubled his chances of playing on United’s flanks. Watch out, Messrs Beckham… Read More »
Football is no longer, in Pelé’s words, the “beautiful game”. Today, the leading players can be counted among the world’s ‘super-rich’. Encouraged by their agents, many players seek transfers on a regular basis. Some change clubs to enhance their career, others to improve their own financial situation and those of their ‘people’. January is one… Read More »
Next Wednesday journalists, coaches and past winners will decide who will be Belgium’s ‘Golden Boot’ for 2014. As usual, the award will be based on performances over the calendar year rather than a complete football season. It’s crazy but it’s true. Last year, the three favourites – Thorgan Hazard, Michy Batshuayi and Maxime Lestienne –… Read More »
As an aside, the first thing we learned is that I should stop forecasting. OK, I said it would be a draw but I felt there would be goals. End result: nine shots on target – the total from both teams. Apart from that, what struck me early on in the game was that Eden… Read More »
Belgium face Wales on Sunday and you’d expect an air of confidence about a team placed fourth in the FIFA rankings facing one in 34th position. But it’s not quite like that. Although Marc Wilmots’ men defeated Iceland 3-1 on Wednesday, both the coach and the performance were heavily criticised. Wilmots rested several players (most… Read More »
Top cuisine Anderlecht travel to Gent today and it’s a clash between the top two. These are heady days for the Buffalos, an ambitious club who play in a state-of-the-art stadium, the Ghelamco Arena, which also houses a Michelin Star restaurant. Gent have never won the title, finishing as runners-up in 1954 and 2010. Things… Read More »
As Lady Gaga once said, football is a funny old game. Going into their Champions League match with Arsenal on Tuesday night, Anderlecht were seen as lambs to the slaughter. They had won one of their last five league games and would be without Steven Defour and Matias Suarez through injury and Alexsander Mitrovic as… Read More »
Just under two weeks ago, with two minutes of official time remaining at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium remaining, Dennis Praet trotted off the pitch to a standing ovation from the Anderlecht fans. He’d been the standout player in a sparkling display against Arsenal and he’d created Andy Najar’s goal that had given the Brussels… Read More »
Belgium play Bosnia and Herzegovina tonight in Sarajevo. On paper it looks like the toughest match in the qualifying group. Last week they easily beat Andorra and now the hard work starts. Looking at the Belgian squad, the strength lies in midfield. Even though Zenit’s Axel Witsel and Everton’s Kevin Mirallas are missing through injury,… Read More »
Before the match with Australia, two of Belgium’s most-capped players, Timmy Simons and Daniel Van Buyten, will get a chance to say farewell to the fans and for supporters to say thank you for a job well done. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have long been an admirer of Simons. He’s… Read More »