As we reach the three week winter break, Anderlecht lead the Jupiler league table by one point from Gent. Club Brugge are a further two points off the pace in third place. The Mons – Anderlecht game was somewhat disappointing. The visitors went ahead through a rather soft penalty, converted by Guillaume Gillet, only for… Read More »
The Jupiler League has three teams in the knock-out stages of the Europa League and all three are playing today. The three – Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard Liege – all topped their groups and all have good chances of reaching the last 16, thereby enhancing Belgium’s UEFA coefficient. Standard (6th) are first out… Read More »
On Friday night, a disappointing Anderlecht lost at KV Mechelen thereby giving Gent a chance to go top on Saturday night. It wasn’t to be as Trond Sollied’s men went down 1-0 at home to Beerschot despite dominating the match. That gives Club Brugge an opportunity to close the gap and move into second place… Read More »
With Anderlecht and Standard Liege already qualified for the knock-out stages of the Europa League, many eyes will be on the Jan Breydel stadium on December 15 when Club Brugge meet Braga needing a draw to make it through to the knock-out stages. Last Wednesday and Club Brugge looked down and out, losing 3-0 at… Read More »
The unlikely man of the week was Anderlecht’s Tom De Sutter. The former Cercle Brugge striker has struggled since moving to Brussels, being faced by competition from first Romelu Lukaku, and latterly Dieumerci Mbokani, and a lack of faith on the part of Ariel Jacobs. On Saturday night though, it all came right for De… Read More »
Four weeks ago, just before Chelsea thrashed Genk 5-0, I wrote “It would have been good to see Franky Vercauteren and his 2010-2011 side all fit and raring to go … but that was then and now is now!” And so it also came to pass in Valencia. Last night’s 7-0 drubbing in Spain says… Read More »
Champions League: Valencia – Racing Genk (November 23, 20.45) Racing Genk go to Valencia tonight knowing that a defeat or a no score draw would put them out of Europe and a score draw would give them a slight chance of Europa League qualification. A victory, of course, would have their fans dancing in the… Read More »
Belgium had to win to retain any chance of qualifying for the 2013 U21 European Championships and that’s what they did when Brescia’s Omar El Kaddouri scored the winner in the 92nd minute. England seemed to be coasting on the hour after an early goal from Liverpool’s Martin Kelly had given them the lead. Then… Read More »
The first point to make about Belgium’s U21 squad to face England in Mons on Monday is that it doesn’t contain the country’s more illustrious young players. Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois are all in the senior squad, while Gent’s Yassine El Ghanassy is injured and has hardly ever played for the… Read More »
For a number of reasons, international friendly matches don’t have great appeal these days. Football fans value competition and are not keen to pay to watch a match with multiple substitutions and a lack of effort from some participants. This was thrown into sharp relief yesterday when Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld said that playing at… Read More »