Zulte Waregem – KVC Westerlo

This will be the 18th time we travel to the Gaverbeek. In previous matches, we won four times and drew six times. The last two encounters both ended in a draw. For the slightly older supporters, a trip to Waregem will bring back many memories, because it was there in 1997 that, thanks to our victory in that decisive match of the final round, we were able to take our first steps in the highest division of professional football in Belgium the following season.

First game
On matchday 2, newly promoted Zulte Waregem visited ’t Kuipje. The match started fantastically for our Kemphanen, because after a hesitation in the West Flemish defence, Griffin Yow was able to put our stadium announcer to work within a minute. Less than 10 minutes later, Josimar Alcocer made it 2-0 after an assist from Emin Bayram. Waregem managed to fight back after half an hour with a goal from Erenbjerg, but in the 82nd minute, Nacho Ferri sealed the final score at 3-1. It was a match in which our opponents had most of the possession, but we created the most danger with no fewer than 10 shots in the penalty area. Tuur Rommens was named man of the match, and the number two (Josimar Alcocer) and number three (Isa Sakamoto) also stood out in their yellow Soudal shirts.

Westerlo news
Dylan Ourega was suddenly thrown into the fray against Mechelen. Having gained enough match rhythm at his previous employer Guingamp to start this match, he even played the full 90 minutes. Shunsuke Saito also started the match. Normally, he is a true left winger, but coach Issame Charaï opted not to put Dylan and Shun, the two rookies, on the same side. Both players received good reviews in the media, with Shun even providing the assist for Nacho in the 16th minute.

Did you know the following?

If we had to draw up a ranking of the first 15 minutes of play and then blow the whistle, we would be in second place, one point behind Anderlecht. Even after 45 minutes, we are still in sixth place, but we are second to last in the last quarter of an hour, where we see some points lost.

Reda, Baka and Seiji are continuing their rehabilitation and Bryan Reynolds received his fifth yellow card in Mechelen, so he will serve a one-match suspension.

 

Zulte Waregem news
Let’s start with a fun fact. In 2021, the name of their stadium was changed from the beautiful Regenboogstadion (Rainbow Stadium) to a sponsor name: the Elindus Arena. The Regenboogstadion owed its name to the 1957 World Road Cycling Championships, which were won by Belgian cyclist Rik Van Steenbergen.

In sporting terms, they are having a quiet season. They are in a safe 10th place with 6 wins, 8 draws and the same number of defeats. Their home wins came against OHL, Antwerp, Ghent and Genk.

During the current winter transfer window, three young players joined the squad: Kadir Seven from Corum FK, Tristan Panduro from Copenhagen U19 and Mouhamadou Sall from a Senegalese first division club.

The following 10 players are usually in the starting line-up: goalkeeper Brent Gabriël, right-back Benoît Nyssen, centre-back Anton Tanghe, left-back Yannick Cappelle and central midfielder Thomas Claes represent the Belgians in the team, which is complemented by three Danish players: Jeppe Erenbjerg, who is also the top scorer with eight goals, striker Anosike Ementa and left centre-back Jakob Kiilerich, who won the championship with Swedish club Mjällby a few weeks ago . Tochukwu Nnadi, who recently played for Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations, will play as defensive midfielder, and Joseph Opoku will play as left winger.

Last week, coach Sven Vandenbroeck opted for a 3-4-3 formation in the away defeat against Club Bruges.

He then put Lukas Willen and Emran Soglo in defence, and Enrique Lofolomo and Marley Aké, formerly of Juventus, joined the team.

Referee
Bram Van Driessche will referee this match. We already had him as referee this season in that wonderful 0-3 victory over STVV, and he also refereed once for Zulte, who lost their away match 3-2 to Genk.

It is noteworthy that he has already refereed this match between the two teams three times in the past:

• September 2015: 4-2 with goals from Jens Cools (0-1) and Nils Schouterden (4-2)
• March 2017: 2-2 with goals from Benji De Ceulaer (0-1) and Silvère Ganvoula (1-2)
• January 2023: 1-1 with a goal from Roman Neustädter (0-1)