KVC Westerlo – KRC Genk

Today the cup match against KRC Genk was scheduled. Wouter Vrancken’s team managed to collect 43 points from 16 games in the league so far. Cup matches often mean rotations in the line-up and today was no different. Our coach made no fewer than six changes to the starting eleven. Goalkeeper Gillekens started in the starting line-up, Nacer Chadli was back from injury and Perdichizzi, Van den Keybus, Dierckx and Gumuskaya also appeared in the starting line-up.

Line-up KVC Westerlo: N. Gillekens, B. Reynolds (E. Jordanov 70′), R. Seigers, P. Perdichizzi, M. De Cuyper, N. Chadli (D. Nene 70′), T. Dierckx, T. Van den Keybus, M. Gumuskaya (R. Neustaedter 79′), N. Madsen (M. Fixelles 56′), K. Vaesen (I. Vetokele 70′)

Line-up KRC Genk: M. Vandevoordt, D. Munoz, C. Cuesta, M. McKenzie, G. Arteaga, M. Galarza, B. Heynen, M. Trésor, B. El Khannous, J. Paintsil, P. Onuachu

First half

First chance of the match fell to the Westel side. Gumuskaya was able to strike out on the volley towards the bottom corner, but Vandevoordt just managed to stop the ball…. Genk immediately came up with an answer which put us behind early in the match. Just before the quarter-hour mark, Onuachu managed to open the scoring by kicking the ball past Gillekens in the rebound.

Our team then played the ball around well towards the opponent’s sixteen-meter area but this did not yield much more than a few corner kicks for the time being. Genk were struggling at the back for a while. They were struggling to avoid making mistakes and giving away chances, but we could not take advantage of this.

Almost the ‘Genkies’ managed to double their lead. Paintsil dribbled past the defence and passed the ball to Heynen. The shot fortunately ended up in the side netting.

The first half was characterised by a low tempo with a few chances for both sides. After 45 minutes, the players went into the dressing rooms to rest at a 0-1 deficit.

Second half

Just after half-time, Genk were able to set up an attack from a quick conversion. Paintsil brought the ball up to Onuachu but the Westel defence was there in time to prevent a deeper deficit.

After 56 minutes, coach Jonas De Roeck felt it was time for a first-time substitution. Nicolas Madsen was allowed to leave the field, in his place came Mathias Fixelles.

From the moment the clock ticked past the hour, Genk started to take a more cautious approach to the game. The ball was kept in their own half to prevent our team from getting into the game. They failed to create any real threat at the Genk goal.

In minute 78, we could finally note a good effort. The team went forward well and lashed out towards Vandevoordt’s goal, but the shot unfortunately went just wide.

In the closing stages of the match, we saw hand play after a shot in the 16-yard area. Our players asked for a penalty but the ref had not seen it. In the Cup, VAR is not used so the penalty stayed out. We ended the match with a 0-1 loss.

Goals

P. Onuachu 0-1 (14′)