Three Yanks were on the field together in Flanders over the weekend and another found himself missing out due to picking up an injury after finding the back of the net last weekend.
Westerlo 2 – 0 Eupen
It was Yank vs Yank on Friday night when Gabriel Slonina and his Pandas travelled to Westerlo to take on Bryan Reynolds and Griffin Yow at Het Kuipje. The keeper played the entire game, as did Reynolds. Yow however was given a brief rest, coming off in the 81st minute. The young midfielder seems to have worked his way into the starting 11 for the Gamecocks.
Both of the goals came after the intermission and only six minutes apart with Danish midfielder Nicolas Madsen scoring his sixth and seventh of the season. His first came on a counterattack and his shot looked to be one Slonina was going to save, that is until it hit the leg of Czech defender Jan Kral, allowing it to deflect over the American keeper’s head and into the goalmouth.
The Dane’s second was taken from the penalty spot after Amadou Keita got a bit carried away during a corner kick and wrestled Arthur Piedfort to the ground.
With back-to-back wins, Yow and Reynolds find themselves with just a point needed to get out of the relegation group. They’ll hope to do that on Saturday night in Antwerp.
Genk 4 – 0 Kortirjk
It was another lackluster performance for KV Kortrijk as they were outplayed by Mark McKenzie and Genk on Sunday evening, leaving them with only two points in their last five league games. While the American defender went the distance for the Smurfs, Alex Mighten was given just four minutes of regular time to play for the last place Kerels.
Although not much is expected from KVK these days, they did hold their own at Cegeka Area in Limburg Province for the first 22 minutes. It was in the 23rd however where the hosts brought their fans to their feet when Yira Sor found himself inside the box with just a defender between him and the keeper. Instead of shooting, the Nigerian spotted Joseph Paintsil, who easily put the ball past the KVK keeper.
Genk had a lot more chances to score before the intermission but were unable to make any of them count. Just four minutes after the break however, they were up 2-0 with Sor finding himself one-on-one with Tom Vandenberghe and this time he took the shot and scored the goal. Then after another five minutes it was Painstil again, who had the ball at his feet after he and a couple team mates mesmerized the visiting defense around the box with their fast and fancy passing skills.
In the 58th minute Paintsil looked to be ready to claim the game ball for a hat trick but as he was about to shoot, defender Mark Mampassi plowed into him for a penalty. Captain Bryan Heynen did the honors to give his team their fourth goal.
Due to his feeble playing time, where the Anglo-American has only played 207 minutes in seven appearances (out of the 17 games already played in the Pro League), you cannot help but wonder if Mighten’s parent club, Nottingham Forest, would better help their 21 year old striker improve by loaning him out to another team next month where he would actually spend more time on the field than the bench.
Regardless, Kortrijk will go again midweek when they again travel but this time to Brugge to take on red-hot Cercle. Genk will travel to the capital on Saturday night to go up against Anderlecht.
Notes
Standard Liege and Charleroi battled it out in the Wallonia Derby but neither team could capitalize on any of their chances. This one, where Marlon Fossey did start and play 78 minutes, ended with zero goals apiece. Les Rouches will look to find the back of the net next time out when they head to Mechelen on Wednesday night.
Having picked up an injury since the last game, Kahveh Zahiroleslam was not available for Sint-Truiden’s trip to Brussels to take on Molenbeek at the Edmond Machtens Stadium. All he missed was seeing his team shut-out by the league newcomers by a three goals to none score line. The team in the eighth spot will look to do better when they host Sporting Charleroi.
Still no sign of Sam Vines when Antwerp hosted Anderlecht for a late Sunday night kickoff where they fought back with an 89th goal to steal a point in this contest that ended 1-1. They’ll be at home again on Saturday afternoon when they host Westerlo. Will Vines make an appearance? Your guess is as good as mine.
