The infamous playoffs start this weekend. The top six (Standard Liege, Anderlecht, Racing Genk, Club Brugge, Lokeren and Zulte Waregem) will play each other twice in the next six weeks. The clubs start with half of the points gained in the “classic” season. So the clubs start as follows: Standard Liege 34 points, Club Brugge… Read More »
The team of the week was undoubtedly Zulte Waregem, annual budget 8 million euros, but as usual most of the noise surrounded Anderlecht, the league’s wealthiest club. It’s been a bad week for the Brussels boys in both league and cup. Strangely though, there’s been little talk of crisis with most observers calling for John… Read More »
Tonight sees Zulte Waregem play Anderlecht at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s a meeting of the league’s top two teams. Anderlecht, the leaders, started the season as favourites and are probably doing even better than expected. Zulte Waregem, however, were seen by many – see here for more on the club’s rise… Read More »
Two of the biggest games of the season in Belgium – ignoring the playoffs – are the clashes between Anderlecht and Standard Liege, known as the Clasicos. The next one takes place on Sunday and despite the game’s attraction, Anderlecht’s ‘Golden Boot’ winner Dieumerci Mbokani decided not the get a plane back from the African… Read More »
About one year ago, I wrote that the Cofidis Cup was dying on its feet. Tonight see the first leg of the quarter finals and the patient is hardly in better health. The fans are not showing any great interest in the competition and several pundits are calling for changes. The current setup certainly favours… Read More »
So it was not to be. Anderlecht played well for 45 minutes and then failed to concentrate at the beginning of the second half. A goal from AC Milan’s Stephan El Shaarawy and a wonder strike from Philippe Mexès sealed Anderlecht’s fate. Now they most hope that results work out for them on the final… Read More »
There will be 20, 783 spectators in the Constant Vanden Stock stadium tonight and all but 1,085 will be hoping for a home victory. Hopes have not been so high for a decade or more, when Jan Koller and Tomasz Radzinski were demolishing defences, including that of Manchester United. The new coach John Van den… Read More »
The Standard-Anderlecht clash at Sclessin today brings together Ron Jans and John Van den Brom, two of the five Dutch coaches in the Belgian first division. The coaches at two of the country’s leading clubs have had differing fortunes in their first couple of months in Belgium. Jans has certainly shown himself to be the… Read More »
Writing on the blog yesterday, I reasoned that Anderlecht might grab a draw with Malaga. John Van den Brom’s team have shown good league form recently and achieved a good result in Milan. It wasn’t to be though, as Malaga came to Brussels and played Anderlecht off the pitch. Isco was a constant threat in… Read More »
Tonight Anderlecht play Malaga in the Champions League. They will be aiming to win their first match at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium – in that competition – since November 2003. Admittedly, they haven’t played a Champions League match at home since December 2006 – a draw with AEK Athens – but even so, it’s… Read More »