May 21, 2023
These diaries have featured Royal Antwerp three times this season, and they went into today’s fixture knowing that three wins in their final three games in the Championship Play-off round would see them win the Belgian title for the first time since 1956/57. Such a position would have seemed unlikely after the 0-3 hammering they received back in October at Standard Liege, and needing two goals in the last 5 minutes to snatch an improbable 3-3 draw at Westerlo at the end of December. However, since their 4-1 home victory over Standard in January, they had lost just once in 15 league games, and claimed the Belgian Cup with a 2-0 win over KV Mechelen.
The Championship play-off round in Belgium is unusual in that at the end of the regular 30 game season, the points total of the top four sides are halved, as they then play six additional matches to determine the Champions.
Genk & Union St Gilloise led the way on 75 points, with Antwerp trailing on 72 points, and Club Brugge well adrift on 59 points. Consequently, the points totals at the start of the play-offs were 38 to Genk and Union, 36 for Antwerp and 30 for Club Brugge. As Antwerp won their first three matches, they now sat in pole position with 45 points, with Union on 44 and Genk now seemingly out of the picture on 41.
With little to play for, Club Brugge had lost all three of their play-off games, safe in the knowledge that they were assured of a place in the Europa Conference qualifying round. The two sides met last week-end at the Bosuil, where Antwerp came back from falling 0-2 behind after 20 minutes to win 3-2, thanks to a 97th minute goal from 18-year-old starlet Arthur Vermeeren. The two regular season encounters had both been drawn, 2-2 in Bruges and 0-0 in Antwerp.
Club Brugge play at the 29,069 capacity Jan Breydal Stadium, which they share with Cercle Brugge, and was previously known as the Olympiastadion. It is now named after a patriotic hero of the Franco-Flemish war and the 1302 uprising.
I have been to the ground on one occasion, watching the Euro 2000 group match between France and Czech Republic, which ended in a 2-1 victory for France on their way to winning the tournament. I was living in the Netherlands at the time so was able make the two hour or so drive to the game. My three memories of the game were that it was strange the game did not sell-out despite being held very close to the border with France, just how quick Thierry Henry was, and that the result was unjust on the Czech side, who had more than matched the World Champions after falling behind to an early goal from Henry and surviving a blistering start from the French. The cross-bar denied Jan Koller a late equaliser after Youri Djorkaeff had restored the lead for the French, following a penalty from Karel Podborsky for the Czechs.
The French side that day included Zidane, Anelka, Henry, Barthez, Blanc, Desailly, Thuram, Lizaruzu, Deschamps, Candela & Petit with Djorkaeff, Dugarry and Wiltord coming off the bench. The Czech line-up featured Podborsky, Nedved, Rosicky, Smicer, Repka, Rada, Srnicek and Koller.
Club Brugge have won the Belgian title on 18 occasions, second only to Anderlecht, and have also won the Belgian Cup 11 titles. They are the defending Champions. They have reached two European finals, losing the 1978 European Cup Final 0-1 to Liverpool at Wembley, and also losing to Liverpool 3-4 on aggregate in the 1976 UEFA Cup final.
Their home colours are blue and black stripes, with black shorts, and they are commonly known as just Club or Blauw-Zwart. Their average home attendance in the regular season was 22,914, the highest in the league.
Coach Carl Hoefkens, ex-Stoke and West Bromwich Albion and 22 caps for Belgium, was sacked late in December despite having led to the side to the knock-out rounds of the Champions League, finishing ahead of Bayer Leverkusen ( 1-0 & 0-0 ) and Atletico Madrid ( 2-0 & 0-0 ) in their group. They had also won 4-0 in Porto but suffered a similar score reverse at home to the group winners.
Eyebrows were raised when ex-England international Scott Parker ( 18 caps ) was announced as the replacement coach, having been sacked earlier in the season by Bournemouth, and having previously led Fulham to relegation from the Premiership. To the surprise of few, Parker’s tenure was disappointing, and he was sacked early in March after 1-5 defeat in Lisbon at the hands of Benfica, which eliminated Club from the Champions League. Reserve team coach was Rik De Mil was promoted to take over as head coach.
Ex-Barcelona striker Ferran Jutgla was Club’s top scorer in the league this season with 10 goals, followed by ex-Ajax Dutch winger Noa Lang ( 6 caps ) on 8.
The most famous name in the Club squad is ex-Liverpool and Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet ( 35 caps ) whilst ex-Fulham midfielder Denis Odoi won 1 cap for Belgium but now represents Ghana ( 6 caps ). Midfielder Hans Vanaken has 23 caps and ex-Midtjylland Nigerian midfield Raphael Onyediak has 1 cap. Full-back Clinton Mata has 8 caps for Angola, Ivorian centre-back Abakar Sylla has won 3 caps and ex Dynamo Kiev, Gent and Benfica Ukrainian midfielder/forward Roman Yaremchuk has made 43 appearances for his country. Centre-back Jack Hendry has won 21 caps for Scotland and has Celtic, Dundee, Melbourne City, MK Dons and Oostende amongst others on his CV.
Unexpectedly, Bet365 made Club slight favourites at 31/20, with Antwerp at 17/10, and the draw at 23/10. The match was streamed live for free on the Bet365 website, and for €3.49 on Eleven Sports. The weather at the 13.30 local kick-off time was cloudy with sunny spells, and a temperature of 17 degrees.
Both teams made one change from last week, with Yaremchuk replacing the injured Jutgla for Club, whilst Stengs came in for Keita for Antwerp, who continue to be strengthened by the absence of ex-Manchester United full-back Richie de Laet.
The home side made a lively start and with barely a minute played Ekkelenkamp had to chop down Onyedika after the Nigerian had turned away from him. They won the first corner of the game in the 8th minute after a sweeping cross field pass found Mata who in turn put Rits in space on the right, but the cross was blocked.
The first chance of the game came in the 12th minute. Pacho made a hash of trying to intercept Vanaken’s threaded ball to Rits, and the Club midfielder turned and shot first time, but Butez made the block with his legs. A mazy run from the left by Lang then teed up Sylla but the Ivorian could only spoon his shot from the edge of the area over the bar.
Antwerp’s Vermeeren was shown the first yellow card of the game in the 21st minute, bringing down Yaremchuk after losing control of the ball midway in his own half and the Ukrainian had nipped in.
Antwerp coach Mark van Bommel, dressed in all black and increasingly looking like Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, was cutting an increasingly frustrated figure on the touchline as his side struggled to make any impression in the match, and the home crowd roared with delight as their side’s high press forced another error from the Antwerp back four.
Antwerp did threaten briefly but Muja’s cross from the right was ahead of Janssen and easily gathered by Mignolet, then with 27 minutes played, Balikwisha by the left-wing corner flag, found Stengs whose inside pass put Janssen with a one on one with Mignolet but the striker’s left-footed effort was steered over the bar.
Antwerp were briefly enjoying a good spell but Avila wasted a promising position by optimistically shooting from 35 yards and the ball ended up high in the stands. The led to the game’s comedy moment as the yellow card had fallen out of the referee’s pocket and Avila picked up and handed it back to the official with smiles all round. I can think of some Italian referees who might not have seen the funny side !
Club were soon on the front foot though and a long ball out of defence could have presented an opportunity to Yaremchuk, but his control was lacking and Butez was able to come off his line and dive at the Ukrainian’s feet to claim the ball. Vanaken was then found in space on the left, but his cross in the direction of the penalty spot was met by Yaremchuk but the header looped gently for Butez to save.
Antwerp responded with a dangerous left-wing cross by Muja being headed away by Sylla, then Alderweirld’s long punt out of defence was headed on the run well over the bar by Ekkelenkamp.
Odoi entered the referee’s note book with a studs-up challenge on Ekkelenkamp and perhaps was fortunate to only see yellow. The half ended with Stengs gratefully putting a low cross from Rits over his own bar for a corner. At half-time Club had been the better side but had created very few chances, and it was all to play for in the second half.
Brugge made a change at the interval bringing on Danish midfielder Casper Neilsen, who joined Club at the start of the season from Union St Gilloise, and switching Odoi to right-back. The Dane made an almost instant impact by opening the scoring five minutes into the second period with a fabulous goal. Lang played a great pass down the left touch-line for Meijer to run onto, and his pull-back reached Neilsen who hammered into the roof of the net from 15 yards.
Two minutes later Yaremchuk was clear but again poor control let him down, and the ball rolled off for a goal-kick. Antwerp made a triple substitution in an attempt to change the pattern of the play and from a corner won when Stengs had an effort deflected for a corner, Kerk volleyed wide from 25 yards.
However, it was the home side who scored the game’s crucial second goal in the 62nd minute. Antwerp were caught in possession and lovely cross-field pass by Vermant, who had only just entered the fray, was swept home by Neilsen in acres of space close to the angle of the six-yard box before De Laet could slide in and block.
Antwerp could have got back into the encounter in the 73rd minute but Kerk wasted a golden chance, putting the ball wide from 6 yards after the diving Mignolet could only push away Stengs’ low cross.
Substitute De Laet then had to go off injured, perhaps not being fully fit in the first place. Antwerp strived to try and make something happen, but Stengs’ chip to Muja only led to a goal-kick after good defending by Mechele, and Janssen shot well wide from 25 yards. In truth they looked devoid of ideas and were a well-beaten side.
There was a little bit of controversy in added on time. In an act of show-boating, Lang stood on the ball near the Antwerp corner flag. When play moved on, Alderweirld clearly unhappy at the lack of respect shown to fellow players, gave Lang a firm push off-the-ball leading to the predictable inevitable bout of hand-bags. The referee showed the yellow card to both players. However, Lang still had the red mist in his eyes and then committed a terrible foul on Stengs and was extremely fortunate not to be shown a second card. The Club bench were frantically trying to get Musa to come on to replace Lang before he could get into any more trouble, but the referee avoided the need for this by blowing the full-time whistle.
Overall, Club Brugge were deserved winners against an uninspiring Antwerp side who failed to register one shot on target. With little to play for except pride, Club put the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons in the title race. However, regardless of other results, Antwerp will still win the Championship if they were to beat Union ( home ) and Genk ( away ) in their final two matches over the next two Sundays.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_JgnxO-IM
Club Brugge KV : Mignolet – Mata ( Neilsen ), Sylla, Mechele, Meijer – Rits ( Hendry ), Onyedika, Vanaken, Odoi, Lang – Yaremchuk ( Vermant )
Royal Antwerp : Butez – Bataille, Alderweirld, Pacho ( Van Den Bosch ), Avila ( De Laet, Yusef ) – Muja, Vermeeren, Ekkelenkamp ( Keita ), Stengs, Balikwisha ( Kerk ) - Janssen
No comments:
Post a Comment