There were a couple of midweek Pro League games and both involved Americans. Unfortunately, both involved Americans coming out on the wrong end of 3-0 defeats.
Mechelen 3 – 0 Standard Liege
After a spell in October and early November where they came away with four victories out of five, les Rouches are finding it very difficult to get back to winning ways with their latest disappointment being this defeat at the hands of Mechelen on Wednesday night. They have dropped points in their last five games.
Marlon Fossey was in the starting lineup for the Liegeois but came off in the 79th minute for Cihan Canak. By that time Norman Bassette and Kerim Mrabti had already put the game to bed for the Kakkers with their 35th and 67th minutes net benders. The final strike came in stoppage time from the penalty spot from the foot of Geoffrey Hairemans.
To be fair to Standard, lady luck was against them when in the 13th minute Merveille Bokani ran into the back of Bassette, sending the youngster to the ground. The referee felt that the teenage attacker was heading for goal, so didn’t hesitate in showing the Congolese defender a straight red card. With the man advantage, KV easily dominated the game with 62% possession and a 16-9 shot difference.
Fortunately for les Rouches, there is one more game left before the league breaks for the holidays. They will go up against eighth-place Sint-Truiden two days after Christmas.
Cercle Brugge 3 – 0 Kortrijk
If Standard Liege are feeling sorry for themselves, all they have to do is look further down the Pro League standings to see the Kerels in last place with only two wins throughout the season. The good news is that Alex Mighten came off the bench much earlier than usual, playing almost a half hour up the road in Brugge.
Kortrijk also didn’t have the excuse of being a man down either as they stayed at full strength for the duration and even put in a half-decent first-half performance. It was minutes into stoppage time before the intermission that saw them go down a goal. As a matter of fact, the outfield players were so bad that although their keeper, Tom Vandenberghe had to pick the ball out of the back of his net on three occasions, he was still named man of the match for the 10 impressive saves that he made.
Thibo Somers struck in stoppage time, sending the ball past Vandenberghe after it pinballed around the 18-yard box with the visitors unable to clear the area.
Two minutes after the restart it was 2-0 with Kevin Denkey scoring from inside the box. Then Alan Minda got in on the act as he was played into the box and smashed it into the far corner netting to round out the scoring.
Like Standard, the Kerels will get one more chance to redeem themselves before the new year. They’ll have a tough game against third-place Gent at home, also on the 27th of December.
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