KVC Westerlo – KV Mechelen

The opening phase against Zulte couldn’t have started better. Our supporters from the Kempen region were cheering in their new stand within a minute. Griffin Yow wrote himself into the history books by scoring the earliest Westelse goal ever. Ten minutes later, there was a double lead on the scoreboard and the match was already decided.

KVC Westerlo

After the defeat in Anderlecht, the first hurdle, including the three points that came with it, was cleared with relative ease. The opponent may have had the best possession, but the wins in ground duels (42-28), touches in the opponent’s penalty area (30-13) and shots in the penalty area (10-4) were clearly in favour of our Kemphanen.

Man of the match was Tuur Rommens, who, as left-back, made the most dribbles, made the most tackles in defence and was the player against whom the most fouls were committed.

Next up is the regional derby against Mechelen. A match against our Antwerp neighbours is always spicy, with lots of goals and a high degree of difficulty in keeping the three points at home. The very first match ever, in 2000, started promisingly, however, with a score of 8-0 that evening, which is still recorded as the highest home victory ever in our history.

It will also be a special match for our coach Issame Charai. Between 2006 and 2008, he appeared on the pitch 55 times in a in a KV shirt, scoring 16 times, including the only goal in a win against Westerlo.

KV Mechelen

The Maneblussers got off to a great start. Four out of six, which was close to six out of six, with last week’s impressive home win against Club Brugge. There was only one completely new name compared to last season: Moroccan Redouane Halhal, who won the Africa Cup U23 with our coach in 2023. Club icon Nikola Storm did not appear in the team last week, choosing to leave Belgium to try his luck at Antalyaspor.

Another familiar name that has not been on the match sheet for the past two games – due to suspension – is Benito Raman. Last season, he scored 15 goals in 34 games, but now he has to wait for his chance. However, it is important to note that even though he may have to settle for a substitute appearance, he is one goal away from his 100th career goal, so he will be doubly motivated to get that ball into the net.

Another notable figure in the Mechelen team is left-back Moncef Zekri, who at 16 is currently the youngest regular player in our Jupiler Pro League and has not lost a single game in the five he has played so far. Starting line-up: De Wolf – Belghali – Halhal – Marsa – Zekri – Hammar – Schoofs – Pflücke – Bafdili – Mrbati and Lauberbach.

Referee

A provincial derby that will be refereed by a fellow provincial: Michiel Allaerts. He has already officiated three matches against us in the past: at RWDM (1-1) and Dender (1-0) and at the Kuipje against Standard (0-0).

Text and statistics: Peter Boons