We shouldn’t disguise it, we shouldn’t hide it: another uppercut we were dealt on Wednesday. Thank you to the legion of supporters for coming out to support us on a typical autumn evening. The commitment you make is like a good marriage: supporting each other in good and bad days. Also on Saturday, we need you again to push our Kemphians to the three points.

KVC Westerlo

For the cup match, some guys got a chance to prove themselves. So there were 7 basic players from last season on the field: Reynolds, Neustädter, Perdichizzi, Fixelles, Van Eenoo, Van Den Keybus and Chadli. They were joined by goalkeeper Gillekens, Bos, Haspolat and Frigan.Three guys were rested: Bolat, Sydorchuk and Daci and in the end Kyan Vaesen had to sit in the stands as the nineteenth man. No one really came out of the Beaver battle unscathed, although Lukas Van Eenoo’s toe looked fairly bloody when he took off his shoes, including a hole in the stocking.

For the match in the King Power Stadium, coach De Roeck can again choose from an (almost) complete core, as Mebude and Tagir could also be found on the training field. Let 13 be the lucky number. After all, it has been 12 games and 6 months since the last time we took home the spoils. We drew 7 times and lost 5 times. Now those defeats were (all) against clubs currently occupying places 2, 3 and 4 in the current standings: Gent, Anderlecht and Cercle Brugge (2x). Only the defeat against Beveren was against a lower ranked team, and let’s stay positive: those draws weren’t always against Janneke and Mieke either…

• Anderlecht (0-0)
• Seraing (1-1)
• Gent (3-1)
• Standard (2-2)
• Cercle Brugge (2-0)
• Eupen (2-2)
• Anderlecht (2-1)
• Cercle Brugge (2-1)
• Standard (0-0)
• Genk (3-3)
• RWDM (1-1)
• Beveren (3-1)

OH Leuven

The Leuveners also missed their start, and this cost Marc Brys his job as coach about one month ago. In the meantime Eddy Vanhemel took over, and they managed 2 home victories, against STVV it became 4-0 and in the cup Elene-Grotenberge was sent home with a dry 5-0. The match in Anderlecht, on the other hand, was lost 5-1. While typing this article, word came that white smoke had appeared in Leuven, not for a Habemus Papam but for a Habemus eu varius, a new coach. Oscar Garcia is his name. He has quite a track record as a coach and this week was also in the interest of the Ukrainian Shakhtar Donetsk. His last club was Stade Reims, in France, where he was sacked last October. Before that, he worked for Celta Vigo, Olympiakos, Saint-Etienne, RB Salzburg, Watford and Brighton, among others. As a player, Garcia made 97 appearances for FC Barcelona in the 1990s, where he would later coach the U19. In that respect, he fits squarely within the offensive, footballing profile they were looking for at Leuven.

Leuven managed to score 19 times already this season. No less than 13 different players have done so. Eight goals came from defensive players and four goals came after a stoppage (3 corner kicks and 1 free kick) and three penalty kicks were also scored. 

Did-you-know?

• They have already scored a goal in every game and are currently sixth in “goals scored per game”
• Leuven faced the most penalties this season (5) and they were all converted. Anecdote: Against Union, they got 3 against in one game!
• The past three meetings (home and away) were always won by the Leuven team.

Referee

• Simon Bourdeaud’Hui
• 27 years old
• Affiliated to KSV Oudenaarde
• Debut in 1A: Sept. 23, 2023 (Charleroi vs. Kortrijk 1-0)
• 69 professional matches
  • 1x Westerlo (Westerlo vs Virton 2-0 (Vaesen and Daci))
  • 0x Leuven
• Wednesday he was still the referee in the Beerschot vs Club Brugge cup match

Text and statistics: Peter Boons