Griffin Yow and Kahveh Zahiroleslam were masters of Belgium midweek action, with both American Olympic Team hopefuls scoring a pair of goals in their respective victories.
Westerlo 4 – 2 Cercle Brugge
Griffin Yow was the hero in Westerlo’s big win over Cercle Brugge on Tuesday night, with Bryan Reynolds also earning the start in a result that gives them a bit more breathing room above the relegation group.
This was to be Yow’s season to make an impression at Westerlo, after seeing very little playing time last season. Last season he came off the bench on five occasions and was not able to contribute any goals.
However, this season he has taken advantage of the coach’s decision to give him 11 starts already, by scoring on five occasions, including a brace on Tuesday night against visiting Cercle Brugge.
Reynolds also started and went the duration in defense as two quick Yow goals shocked their visitors who, in the end, went home with nothing to show for their trip east.
The first goal came after just seven minutes. Cercle’s midfilder, Edgaras Utkus lost the ball to Tuur Rommens a bit too easily, and the hosts went on the counter. The Belgian defender spotted his American colleague and gave him the ball for a close range left footed shot.
Ten minutes later Reynolds should have registered an assist with his cross into the box to Romeo Vermant, but the new signing headed just wide of the right post. It didn’t matter because after a couple more minutes later Yow was celebrating his second. This time it was a right footed shot from the center of the box.
Nicolas Madsen then added a third in the 22nd minute to effectively put the game out of reach.
Cercle’s hopeless defending was exposed again at the half hour mark with Vermant, who just returned to his former club on loan from Club Brugge, scored for the second time in two games.
There was a slight hiccup minutes later when former Dynamo Kiev midfielder Serhii Sydorchuk beat his own keeper, gifting the visitors a goal and making the score 4-1 at the intermission.
Rommens was shown a straight red card in the 69th minute, leaving his side a man short for the rest of the game. Westerlo however defended well until a 94th minute goal from Flavio Navinho made the final score a bit more respectable for the visitors.
The victory leaves the American duo and their side in 10th place on 25 points. Up next will be a Saturday afternoon visit from relegation threatened Leuven.
Sint-Truiden 4 – 1 Gent
“Anything you can do, I can do,” might have been what Kahveh Zahiroleslam said to himself when he saw Yow score twice for Westerlo on Tuesday night. The young Ivy Leaguer, who put in an 87-minute shift, scored his third and fourth goals of the season in this shock defeat over high flying Gent.
If you missed the first half hour of the game, you missed absolutely nothing as both teams strolled around the field, creating nothing worthy of watching. The game did change however on the 30-minute mark when Gent’s Archie Brown was shown a straight red card. The defender was down on the ground, injured when Joel Fujita came over to taunt him. The Englishman threw a hand into the face of the Japanese midfielder and was sent off.
Down a man, it was still Gent who drew first blood with a 20-yard scorcher from Pieter Gerkens just five minutes later. The hosts didn’t regain their composure until a few minutes after the restart when they drew level.
Eric Bocat was picked out near the far post from a cross from the right flank. His shot was pushed away by American-born Japanese international keeper Daniel Schmidt, who just made the move from STVV to Gent last month. Fortunately for Zahiroleslam, he was in the right place at the right time and tapped the ball in from a couple of yards out.
The go-ahead goal and eventual game-winner came in the 68th minute when Bocat received the ball in pretty much the same place as last time, but this time instead of shooting, he squared it for his American colleague, who side-stepped his defender and scored again from inside the six-yard box.
To put the icing on the cake, fan favorite Aboubakary Koita came off the bench, having just returned from the African Cup of Nations and scored a brace of his own.
STVV are now only five points out of the top play-off group with seven games to go. They’ll look to climb higher on Sunday night when they travel to Cercle Brugge.
Leuven 2 – 1 Genk
Mark McKenzie and the Smurfs are struggling to get their season back on track after failing to record a victory so far this year. After draws against Sint Truiden and Cercle, they were full of confidence heading to Leuven for their Wednesday night fixture. In the end however, they came away from Den Dreef with nothing after Ewoud Pletinckx’s strike on the 90th minute mark.
In fact, all the goal scoring was done by the Leuven side. Nine minutes after the intermission, Federico Ricca put the ball into the back of the net but unfortunately for the Uruguayan defender, it was past his own keeper.
Siebe Schrijvers converted a penalty kick in the 80th minute and after being denied another kick from the spot, OHL won a corner that Pletinckx put into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
Holding onto sixth place, Genk will host league leaders, Union St Gilloise over the weekend.
Standard Liege 0 – 1 Antwerp
Marlon Fossey went the distance in this game that was decided by a solitary second half goal.
After a few passes around the top of the box, the 19-year-old Antwerp academy product Mahamadou Doumbia pulled the trigger from 22 yards out, then celebrated his first team goal in his first start for the reigning champions.
Having collected only one point this year out of a possible nine, les Rouches have fallen to 12th place and are in danger of entering the relegation zone with another bad performance.
They’ll look to get back on track on Saturday afternoon when the head to Brussels to take on fellow strugglers, Molenbeek.
