The first game of 2025 immediately announces itself as ‘very important’.  Looking back at the last match of 2024, we should not be afraid of anyone. National champions Bruges shivered until the last second. Our Kemphans delivered an outright strong collective performance there, with a world goal from Vuskovic as the icing on the cake.

KVC Westerlo

Despite the loss in Bruges, congratulations poured in from all sides. Unfortunately, we gave the West Flemish a gift-wrapped penalty. A brilliant save by Koen Van Langendonck followed, but nobody had any recourse against the rebound, so we had to leave for the Kempen region empty-handed.

After the match, yours truly was addressed and told that this was the first time the home crowd had applauded an opponent’s goal, as well as after the final whistle there was clapping of hands towards our boys. With the same attitude, the last ten games of this league must be started, and then we can be sure that we will continue a quiet season.

At home, we still play STVV, Genk, Standard, Charleroi and Anderlecht, while we travel to Antwerp, Kortrijk, Cercle Brugge, Leuven and Beerschot. In other words, three games against Play Off 1 candidates, and seven games against direct rivals. The sickbay is completely empty, so everyone is selectable. A few lads are on one card from a yellow suspension though: Reynolds, Vuskovic, Sayyadmanesh and Bolat and would miss the encounter against Antwerp if they are next carded. 

STVV

The last victory for the Tricklers – in league terms – dates back to 8 November, when they won at home against KV Mechelen. This was followed by two more draws (Genk and Cercle Brugge: each at home) and five defeats (Club Brugge, Ghent, Anderlecht, Charleroi and Genk: all though teams currently ranked in the first six). Only once did they win on away: in September against Beerschot, it was then a convincing 0-3 win. They have not lost at Kuipje in the last four encounters and each time they have scored at least four goals in total. 

The man in form goes by the name Adriano Bertaccini, 11 goals in 20 encounters and a true Limburg crowd favourite.  Wherever he plays, he regularly picks up his goals. In youth, he changed clubs a few times (Charleroi, Standard, Club Brugge and Genk), in the seniors his career started with Deinze. He then went on to play one season in Austria (Lustenau) and via Thes Sport and FC Liege he ended up at Stayen.

Another vedette could be Didier Lamkel Zé (nei is calm). Recently recruited and already immediately in for a first frat during his fitness test, when he arrived there with an Antwerp sports bag. Now that boy can play football everyone knows, so watch out. Another player who hurt us at Stayen was right-back Louis Patris, who made things difficult for our players with his infiltrations. He made the switch from Anderlecht to the Canaries in September.

Last line-up (07/01 cup against Genk): Coppens, Van Helden, Belaïd, Godeau, Patris, Yamamoto, Ito, Ogawa, Brahimi, Bertaccini and Ferrari.

Referee

Lawrence Visser was appointed to officiate this match. He was already privileged to lead 3 fine matches in the Europa League this season: Lyon vs Olympiacos, Galatasaray vs Tottenham and Manchester United vs Bodo/Glimt. The Scotland vs Portugal international was also played under his watch. In the domestic league, he has already been used in 13 league and 2 cup games.

For Westerlo this will be the first game of the season, STVV he did meet twice already: 0-0 against Union and 3-2 loss against Genk. This will be his eighth encounter at the Kuipje with 2 wins (OHL 3-2 and Beveren 1-0), 2 draws (Genk 0-0 and 1-1) and 3 defeats (Ostend 1-2, Eupen 0-1 and Cercle Brugge 3-5)

Text and statistics: Peter Boons