It wasn’t a great weekend for Americans in Belgium as none of them were on the winning side in the eighth Game Day of the season.
Gent 2 – 1 Eupen
After taking the lead, Gabriel Slonina and his Pandas gave up a pair of second-half goals and got on the bus back to Eupen with no points to show for their long journey to East Flanders. The young American surrendered a pair of goals after the Buffaloes went down to ten men after Gift Orban was shown a straight red card at the 45th-minute mark for violent conduct.
In the 28th minute, Teddy Alloh picked out Milos Pantovic and the Serbian midfielder slotted his shot from the middle of the box to the bottom right-hand corner for his first goal for his new team since moving from Union Berlin.
Starting the second half up a man, things didn’t go as smoothly for the visitors as they would have expected. Just a few minutes after the re-start, Regan Charles-Cook was clumsy and gave up a penalty that should have gotten Gent on level terms, but Hugo Cuypers’ shot from the spot was saved by Slonina. Unfortunately, the American was not able to hold onto it and captain Sven Kums slotted it home from close range.
It only took another nine minutes for the league leaders to double their lead when Tarik Tissoudali nodded the ball into the back of the net from six yards out. And that was all they needed to secure the points and hold onto the top spot in the Pro League.
In 11th place after eight games, up next Eupen will host a red-hot Anderlecht side.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Westerlo
It was another battle of the Yanks for Marlon Fossey when his Standard side hosted Westerlo and Bryan Reynolds on Friday night to kick off the Pro League weekend. Fossey put in a 78-minute shift, while Reynolds again went the distance. Griffin Yow did not make the team sheet as he will have to put in more time with Jong Westerlo before re-joining the first team.
It was a game of few chances, especially for the visitors who only managed to get one shot off, while les Rouches managed to get five of their nine on target. The hosts also dominated possession, keeping the ball 65% of the game.
The highlight of the game for Westerlo was early in the 13th minute when Belgian international Nacer Chadli played Yusuke Matsuo but, although the angle was a tight one, the Japanese winger saw his effort saved before it was able to reach the far post.
Overall, it was a game contested by two teams that were lacking in confidence and goal-scoring ability with the Liegois scoring six in eight games, while the Flemish side is one better off with seven.
Westerlo will be the happier of the two teams, as they avoided their seventh defeat of the season. Standard, on the other hand, will rue their half chances and kick themselves for not picking up just their second win after defeating Eupen last weekend.
Next up Standard will travel to fellow strugglers, OH Leuven, while Westerlo heads to Genk for hopefully a Yank battle when Reynolds goes up against Mark McKenzie.
Notes
Alex Mighten is slowly building up his minutes at Kortrijk, this time coming into the game on the hour mark in this road trip to Charleroi. A first-half goal was the sum total of net benders and it was struck by Isaac Mbenza of Charleroi in the 32nd minute.
Up next for last place Kortrijk for be a home game against fourth place Cercle Brugge. The Kerels will hope to register their first win of the season.
Sam Vines is still out of action, so missed the stalemate at Bosuil Stadium when Molenbeek came to town. The Belgian champions are still smarting after their Champions League humiliation at the hands of Barcelona midweek. They will hopefully get back on track midweek when they host the Buffaloes of Gent. Vines will not be back for this one.
Mark McKenzie missed out when Genk hosted Sint-Truiden and went down by three first-half goals before fighting back to claim a point with three second-half goals. Kahveh Zahiroleslam came onto the field in the 76th minute for the Canaries.
Up next for the Smurfs will be a tough away game against Club Brugge midweek, before STVV also travels to the Jan Breydel Stadium to take on Club on Sunday evening.
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