April 7, 2021
The top flight in Belgium, officially known as the Jupiler Pro League, has now reached round 32, with just 3 games to go in the regular league season. After 34 matches the top 4 will play in the promotion play-offs in the Championship round, with the Europa League play-offs being played by the sides finishing between 5th and 8th. For any side finishing below the top 8 the season will be over, with the side finishing bottom being relegated and the side in 17th facing a relegation play-off against the team finishing second in the First Division B.
When I lived in Belgium in 10-15 years ago, the top two Division had 16 teams each, but invariably a club or two would go bankrupt at the end of the season, or there would be a merger. I started following KVK Tienen who were unfortunately relegated from the Second Division in 2004 in what was probably the only season when no club folded. In an attempt to reduce the number of clubs going out of business the Belgian FA took the unusual decision to cut the number of professional clubs, with the Second Division becoming a competition with just 8 sides.
Today’s match was the last game in round 32, with Beerschot lying in 8th place although a win would see them rise up to 6th, albeit 5 points off 4th place. However, the league is tightly bunched, and although Charleroi were in 11th place, a win for them would see them leap into a Europa League play-off spot and into 7th place.
Beerschot were long standing members of the Belgian top division and are one of the best supported sides in the country. Founded in 1899, their home stadium is the Olympic Stadium in Antwerp, which was originally built for the 1920 Olympic games. Like many clubs in Belgium, Beerschot have been several different identities due to financial difficulties, merging with Germinal Ekeren in 1999 to become Germinal Beerschot before being declared bankrupt in 2013. In June 2013, KFC Wilrijk merged with the residual club to become FCO Beerschot Wilrijk, moving into the Olympic Stadium whilst starting a rise through the provincial leagues. Despite their fall from grace, the support remained loyal, averaging over 7,000 average in the regional league, and brought record attendances to many of the lower league grounds they played at. The full name of the club is currently Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen .
Beerschot play in all purple, and the capacity of the distinctly purple coloured stadium, also known as t’Kiel, is now officially 12,771
Beerschot are the team of a former work-colleague of mine in Belgium, who was always proud of the supporters of the club, and I still have a Germinal Beerschot cup as a leaving present !
I never actually got to see Beerschot play during my time in Belgium, although I did twice stop-off in the mid-1990s to watch Germinal Ekeren play on Sunday afternoons whilst on my way to the Netherlands from the UK !
Antwerp is the capital of the province of the Antwerpen in the Flemish region of Belgium, and with a population of over 500,000 is the second largest city in the country after Brussels. It has one of the largest ports in the world, has a globally renowned diamond industry, and many of the so called “Dutch Masters” artists eg Rubens and Van Dyck were actually from the region prior to the formation of Belgium.
Beerschot are coached by the youngest coach in the history of top flight football in Belgium, 28 year old William Still, born to English parents who had relocated to Belgium. Still has reportedly coached Preston North End under 14s and with spiky ginger hair he could possibily win a Boris Becker look-a-like competition !
Royal Charleroi Sporting Club traditionally played in Black and White stripes and are known as the Zebras. Their kit today only had one band down the front of the shirt. The city is located in the French speaking province of Wallonia, and is the largest French speaking city after Liege with a population of over 200,000. It was at the heart of the previously prosperous coal and steel industries but has been suffering from industrial decline in the past couple of decades. It is approximately 70 kilometres south of Brussels, and its airport has been branded by Ryanair as Brussels South !
I first watched Sporting Charleroi in 1994, stopping off on my way to a work assignment in Copenhagen to see them lose 0-3 at home in a derby with Standard Liege. Their stadium was renovated for Euro 2000 and I returned to see England’s matches against Germany ( 1-0 ) and Romania ( 2-3, thanks to the infamous Phil Neville late penalty give away for England to exit the competition ). The stadium has been down-sized since then to accommodate the lower crowd levels attracted by Sporting.
All matches in the Jupiler Pro League this season have been played behind closed doors, but games have recently started to be streamed live on MyCujoo. Matches are also lived streamed on Bet365.com, who had Beerschot at 9/5, Charleroi favourites at 11/8, and the draw at 5/2
Beerschot went into today game with a 6-4-5 home record whilst Charleroi possessed a 6-3-6 away record so a close match looked in prospect. Sporting won 3-1 at home in September, with Kevan Rezaei on target twice and Ali Golizadeh with the other. Both are Iranian internationals with 14 and 9 caps respectively.
Beerschot made one change from their starting line that lost 1-2 at Cercle Brugge at the weekend, with Abdoulie Sanyang, who has 2 caps for Gambia replacing Kazakh international Yan Vorogovskiy ( 13 caps ) in midfield.
The star man for Beerschot this season has been 27 year old ex-Stuttgart and Grasshoppers Austrian play-maker Raphael Holzhauser, who had scored 14 goals and been credited with 16 assists prior to today. Such form has also earned a call up to the Austrian national team and he now has 2 caps. 20 year old Croatian centre-back Stipe Radic joined the club from Hadjuk Split, winger Loris Brogno has played for Sparta Rotterdam, defender Frederic Frans will be familiar to supporters of Dundee United and Partick Thistle whilst striker Musashi Suzuki has won 9 caps for Japan,
Charleroi made 4 changes from their 1-1 home draw with Moeskroen, full back Jules van Cleemput replaced ex Leeds Unites and Charlton Congolese international Jordan Botaka ( 16 caps ), and ex-AEK Athens and Anderlecht Bosnian international centre back Ongjen Vranjes replaced Ivorian defender Cedric Kipre, who is on loan from West Bromwich Albion and has also played for Wigan, Motherwell and Corby Town. Marco Ilaimaharitra, 13 caps for Madagascar, took the place of Massimo Bruno whilst Razaei returned at the expense of Japanese forward Ryota Morioka ( 5 caps ).
The Charleroi starting line-up also included attacker Shamar Nicholsen ( 18 caps for Jamaica ) and 37 year old exAnderlecht midfielder Guillaume Gillet ( 22 caps ) whilst full back Kayembe Ditu has 2 caps for Belgium. Former WBA and Stoke City golden boy Saido Berahino, with 12 caps for Burundi was only on the bench.
Beerschot looked the brighter side in the early stages of the match, although they had to wait until the 18th minute for their first decent chance. Suzuki managed to get in front of a defender to meet Brogno’s cross, but his header was kept out by Descamps diving to his left to tip away for a corner. However, the Sporting keeper nearly went very quickly from hero to villain from the resulting corner. He made an easy catch, but in his haste to launch a counter-attack he ran into team-mate Nicholson and dropped the ball. Luckily for him van den Bergh was unable to capitalise, and the danger was cleared.
Charleroi gradually got a foothold into the game, with Razaei’s long range shot forcing a diving save from Vanhammel, and Golizadeh showed some dazzling skill to turn and leave the bemused Pietermaat standing as he sped towards the Beerschot goal.
Just when Charleroi looked to be getting on top they needlessly conceded a penalty to fall behind. Sanyang made a run into the Sporting penalty area but Van Cleemput needlessly brought him down for a clear penalty. Holzhauser sent Descamps the wrong way from the spot.
The tall Chris Hoy look-a-like caught the eye for several reasons. Preferring to make a fancy flick or an unnecessary back-heel when a simple pass would do, he spent a period of the first half operating as a left-back cum wing back, before reverting back to a more central midfield position. He took all of the corners and free-kicks, so obviously was going to take the penalty.
The referee Jonathan Lardot deserves a special mention for the excellent way he controlled the game, allowing it to flow, and unlike many referees these days not blowing for free-kicks at the slightest touch or block. With players looking to gain an advantage by falling over, he regularly waived play on, although he had to award a yellow card to Fall when he stood on a van den Burgh’s foot !
Early in the second half, Brogno attempted to con the ref with an hilarious dive in the area which was ignored, although Sporting centre-back Dessoleil did burst out laughing at Brogno’s pathetic attempt to cheat.
Charleroi nearly equalised just before half-time, when the impressive Golizadeh nutmegged van den Bergh but saw his shot blocked by a diving defender. Sporting’s players appealed for a penalty but the referee awarded a corner.
Beerschot in turn had another penalty appeal at the start of the second half when Holzhauser collided with Vranjes, but again the referee wasn’t impressed.
Charleroi had another spell where they appeared to be gaining the upper hand. In the 53rd minute Nicholson’s cross was headed over the bar by Golizadeh and seven minutes later Gillet’s aware back-heel put the Iranian dangerman clear, but his left-footed shot was bravely saved by the Beerschot keeper.
Charleroi’s equaliser came as a surprise. There seemed to be little danger as Van Cleemput crossed into the Beerschol penalty area. Nicholson was too strong for Radic and the Bosnian defender fell to the ground. However, Nicholson’s header wasn’t particularly powerful, but the keeper didn’t react. I had to do a double take to realise the ball had crept into the corner of the net and it was goal !
The equaliser briefly threatened to take the wind out of Beerschot’s sails, but they were quickly rejuvenated and left-back Jan van den Bergh headed Bakkali’s crossfrom the left just over with the keeper beaten. It was virtually deja-vu a minute later but this time van den Bergh headed a cross from the right wing just over the bar.
Beerschot midfielder Ryan Sunasi started to appear influential, looking good on the ball and making nice passes under pressure to colleagues in space. However, slightly against the run of play the next good chance fell to Sporting, but after a powerful run into the Beerschot area Ilaimaharitra shot over from 12 yards.
With a draw no use to either side the final stages of the game were stretched as both sides searched for a winning goal. Substitute Eleke beat Gillet but yet again left back van den Bergh was marauding forwards but headed over again.
The decisive moment came in the 91st minute. Bakkali went off on a mazy dribble, held off several defenders before feeding Eleke just inside the area. The Beerschot winger cut inside van Cleemput but his powerful shot was blocked by the diving Vranjes. However, the ball had struck his arm and under the current interpretation of the laws, a penalty was unsurprisingly awarded.
Holzhauser again took responsibility and fired his penalty into the same spot as before. Descamps did guess correctly but had little chance to prevent the goal.
With 5 minutes of added time there was still a further opportunity for the referee to further impress. Bakkali attempted to time-waste by going down with an injury, but the referee ignore appeals by the Beerschot players to stop the game for treatment, waived play on, and the player miraculously recovered when Sporting attacked !
An important three points for the home side to strengthen their position for at least a Europa League play-off place. Sporting remain in 11th but realistically will need to win both of their last two matches in order to finish in the top 8.
For the neutral this was a very enjoyable game to watch. Beerschot moved the ball well at pace on the floor, whilst Charleroi were more direct in trying to get the ball forward quickly. But there was little to choose between the two sides.
K Beerschot : Vanhamel- Dom, Radic, Frans, van den Bergh – Sanyang ( Bakkali ), Sanusi, Pietermaat, Holzhauser ( Prychynenko ), Brogno ( Bourdin ) - Suzuki ( Eleke )
Sporting Charleroi – Descamps – Van Cleemput, Vranjes, Dessoleil, Kayembe – Golizadeh ( Bruno ), Gillet, Ilaimaharitra ( Berahino ), Fall ( Benchaib ), Nicholson - Rezaei ( Teodorczyk )
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