RFC Seraing – KVC Westerlo
The final league match will be one without stakes. The coveted PO2 ticket is already in possession, thanks to last weekend’s results in the other matches. Seraing, on the other hand, are forced to return to the Challenger Pro League next season after two years.
KVC Westerlo
Whichever way you look at it, a team in form often has that little bit of luck on their side. Coach Jonas De Roeck had a big rabbit’s foot in his pocket last Saturday, as the big Club Bruges once again dropped points at Kuipje, after having been beaten earlier by us in their own Jan Breydel Stadium. Chances galore for the Brugge side, but a sublime Sinan Bolat and a “save of the week” by Maxim De Cuyper ensured that the 2 Bruges, Club and Cercle, could not score against our Kemphans this season.
Against the best Club this season – we read in the media – our troops had to endure the game. No disgrace, on the contrary: handsome that after the 0-0 in Anderlecht, they were also able to salvage a scoreless draw against that other big club from the Belgian league.
Wondering who our opponents will be in the Europe Play Offs, both Charleroi (against Genk), Cercle Brugge (Zulte Waregem), and Anderlecht (KV Mechelen) are still eligible for that last ticket.
Will our coach rotate in this match and let players who have been less addressed play? Saturday night, we will know. Apart from the long-term injured Daci, Bernat and Mineiro – who are in full rehabilitation though – everyone is available.
Did you know?
- We only met five times in the past. That Seraing is thus the opponent in the JPL , against whom we have played the least in the past.
- This resulted in 2 wins (0-2) and (4-3) and 3 draws: twice 1-1 and once 2-2
- In those mutual duels, our striker Igor Vetokele accounted for a total of 3 of those 11 goals scored for us, making him the top shooter in these mutual duels
- Whatever the result, this season we have broken some personal records since the introduction of the system with the Play Offs in 2010. Before this, we achieved our best result in the 2010-2011 season. We list them briefly:
- Best position: 7th place
- Number of matches won: 14
- Goals scored: 60
- Points: 50
- Clean-sheets: 10
RFC Seraing
In their second year in the JPL – always the hardest it is said when you are a promoter – they were behind from the start of the season. Started with 4 defeats in a row, then you know things are going to be difficult. The highest position they had was after matchday 12. Then they were in 14th position, after a draw … at the Kuipje. The outlier for them was the derby against Standard, when they won 0-2 that September evening. On 31 October, the club then said goodbye to their coach José Jeunechamps and former player Jean-Sébastien Legros was appointed to coach the Liège side. This did not bring much earth to the table, quite the contrary. The new coach’s point total (0.55 per match) was not as good as that of his predecessor Jeunechamps (0.93).
Then again, it shows how important it is to have someone who has a nose for goals, and who can operate it. Last season, they had their famous triangle Maziz – Jallow – Mikautadze who combined for 31 goals and 12 assists in all their games played. However, the trio was claimed back by their parent club FC Metz and the replacements did not have the same scoring ability as their predecessors.
Top shooter this season is Chad-born Marius, good for 10 goals. Wingers Vagner and Bernier were at the cannon four times and three times respectively. Again, it’s a case of looking at the future of the Liège coach’s team.
Did-you-know?
- Goalkeeper Dietsch has played 1 international with France’s U21 with the likes of Badiashile (Chelsea), Camavinga (Real Madrid) and Adli (Leverkusen)
Nicolas Laforge
As in the outward match (2-2) at Kuipje, Nicolas Laforge will lead this match. He was also our matchkeeper in both matches against KV Oostende, 6-0 and 1-2. In other words, we achieved a 7/9 with him. If we go further back in time, we see that he already had 12 occasions to whistle a match of our Kemphans: 5x wins, 2x draws and 5 defeats.
Tekst and statistics: Peter Boons