It’s March 1, 2011, at Neerpeerde, home of the Anderlecht Academy. Charleroi U17s are the visitors. Within two minutes, Anderlecht take the lead through a fragile-looking boy who is later elected “man” of the match. But of course he is not a man; he is a boy and he is a year younger than the… Read More »
It’s Golden Boot/Soulier d’Or/Gouden Schoen time tonight. A comparison between previous winners of the award – for the best player in the calendar year – and this year’s favourites tells a tale. It’s a tale of money. In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Belgian clubs could just about compete with the best leagues in Europe.… Read More »
In Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League (the JPL), the real race for the title – and the 15 or so millions of euros that go with direct entry to the Champions’ League – starts with the playoffs. That’s because the JPL has a structure whereby the top six after the ‘classic’ season has finished enter the… Read More »
Chelsea loanee Thorgan Hazard is favourite to win Belgium’s Golden Boot – awarded to the best player in the calendar year – in a couple of weeks’ time. The question people are divided about is whether he will receive the award as a Zulte Waregem player or as a member of the Anderlecht squad. The… Read More »
Early in the 2011-2012 season, Racing Genk’s Dutch coach Mario Been warned Kevin De Bruyne about signing for a big club only to rot on the bench. De Bruyne should have been so lucky. Been’s prophecy has come true but the young midfielder has not even made the Chelsea bench in most games and he’s… Read More »
Several big clubs suffered at the weekend. Anderlecht arrived late for their match at Charleroi and throughout the game. They only started playing at 2-0 down; it finished 2-1. Second-placed Genk went to Oostende and were thrashed 4-0; Anderlecht loanees Fernando Canesin and Jordan Lukaku were instrumental in the result. Then league leaders Standard were… Read More »
Friendly encounters Tonight’s friendly with Colombia and Tuesday’s against Japan will give a chance to two or three players – most notably Thomas Meunier, Jelle Vossen and Radja Nainggolan – who could have a chance of breaking into the squad to go to Brazil. However, Marc Wilmots is extremely loyal and only a couple of… Read More »
A tad late on the blog but just to add that Belgium won 2-1 in Croatia to confirm their participation in the 2014 Worl Cup finals in Brazil.
The big winners this weekend were Anderlecht and Zulte Waregem. Anderlecht, beset by injuries and suspensions, fielded a young side, went to Genk and returned with the three points. Kara’s early dismissal did help JVDB’s boys. Remarkably, despite the talk of crisis, Anderlecht are the ‘form’ team in the JPL. Later, Zulte Waregem beat Bob… Read More »
It’s exactly three years to the day since I started writing this blog. Today I find myself in Zagreb with Belgium needing just one point to secure qualification for the World Cup finals. In those three years the team has been transformed. Most of today’s players were in the squad three years ago but they’ve… Read More »