KVC Westerlo – OH Leuven

Saturday afternoon, sunny weather, and football at ’t Kuipje. What more could you want? KVC Westerlo faces OH Leuven at 4 PM, followed by the presentation of the Kemphaan of the Season award. See you at ’t Kuipje!

KVC Westerlo

A frustrating evening. There’s no better way to describe last weekend’s 2–4 defeat against Antwerp. Bayram’s early red card meant that coach Charaï’s players had to play with ten men for 80 minutes. After the match, Jungdal said in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad: “With one man less, it’s always difficult. I mainly remember our reaction in the second half. We were also happy with the support of the fans!”

Now a clash with Leuven awaits. Time to take revenge after the Antwerp match. “We have to fight together. There will be more chances. We’re halfway through the play-offs, so there are still five finals left. We just have to keep going,” said a determined Jungdal. According to Pro League statistics, the Kemphanen have only an 18.5% chance of winning the Europe Play-offs, but nothing is impossible. Don’t forget to stay after the match on Saturday for the Kemphaan of the Season award ceremony. Who will it be? Jungdal? Piedfort? Ferri? Or Haspolat for the second year in a row?

KVC Westerlo currently sits in second place with 29 points, just one point behind leaders Genk. Standard has closed the gap and now has 27 points. For this match, Charaï will be without Bayram due to suspension and Alcócer due to accumulating three yellow cards during the play-offs.. The rest of the squad is available: Jungdal, Van Langendonck, Annell, Lapage, Kimura, Nsiala, Sayyadmanesh, Sydorchuk, Patrão, Bohamdi-Kamoni, Sakamoto, Smekens, Reynolds, Mbamba, Gouré, Neustädter, Haspolat, Saito, Van den Keybus, Piedfort, Ferri.

OH Leuven

Leuven lost their previous match 0–2 against Charleroi. Coach Mazzu called it a poor performance and acted immediately: the players’ scheduled day off was canceled. OH Leuven is having a difficult Europe Play-offs campaign. With only 1 point out of 15, they are in sixth place with 18 points, six points behind fifth place. For the upcoming match, OHL will be without suspended Birger Verstraete and injured Noë Dussenne. The biggest threats for Leuven are the skillful dribbler Teklab (2 goals), playmaker Maziz (3 goals, 3 assists), striker Kaba (6 goals, 1 assist), and goalkeeper Leysen, who already has six clean sheets this season.

In their previous match, Leuven started with the following lineup (3-4-3): Leysen, Pletinckx, Nyakossi, Ominami, Teklab, Schrijvers, Kayo, Vlietinck, Maziz, Kaba, Verlinden.

Our previous encounter

The last time we faced OH Leuven was just two weeks ago. On Tuesday evening, April 21, the Kemphanen took all three points. OH Leuven started strongly and was the better team for a long time, creating big chances through Vlietinck and an active Teklab. KVC Westerlo had goalkeeper Jungdal to thank (once again this season). He kept his team in the game with excellent saves and even had help from the crossbar.

After the break, OH Leuven remained the better side, but again lacked efficiency. A penalty on Vaesen was rightly overturned, and shortly after, Maertens missed a huge chance. In the 62nd minute, KVC Westerlo struck ruthlessly: Alcócer occupied two defenders and delivered a precise cross to Ferri, who headed the ball neatly into the far corner. Five minutes later, an advancing Bayram set Ferri up one-on-one with Leysen. Initially, the goalkeeper saved it, but Ferri scored the rebound into an empty net to make it 0–2. OHL tried to respond but was once again stopped by an outstanding Jungdal and a lack of efficiency.

Did you know… 

• KVC Westerlo’s expected goals in home matches average 1.65 per game, while OH Leuven scores only 0.82 goals on average in away matches.
• Bryan Reynolds wore the captain’s armband for KVC Westerlo for the first time in his career three weeks ago against Racing Genk.
• Thomas Van den Keybus could play his 150th match for KVC Westerlo on Saturday.
• Serhiy Sydorchuk celebrates his birthday on Saturday and turns 35.

Referee

Wesley De Cremer will officiate this match. His assistants are Wouter Cochet and Gilles De Beuckelaer. The fourth official is Jasper Vitse. VAR duties in Tubeke will be handled by Laurent Willems.