Overall it was far from an exciting weekend of Pro League action as far as Americans were concerned, with the highlight being the boys at Westerlo, Bryan Reynolds and Griffin Yow, fighting back to get something out of their road game.
Union St Gilloise 2 – 2 Westerlo
Both Bryan Reynolds and Griffin Yow started for Westerlo when they traveled to Brussels to take on the league leaders USG on Saturday evening. Reynolds went the distance in defense while Yow started on the wing and was substituted seven minutes before the 90 were played.
Although the visitors scored early on, the Unionists fought back and thought that they had taken all the points until a stoppage time goal from Nicolas Madsen left the game on even terms.
Thomas van den Keybus struck first after just seven minutes, after Ross Sykes gifted the ball to Romeo Vermant, who passed it over to his Belgian team mate. The midfielder then smashed it into the back of the net from six yards out.
The man of the match, Loic Lapoussin, got the hosts back on equal terms nine minutes later, then the Madagascan born Frenchman put his team ahead at the hour mark.
All seemed to be going well for USG as they shared attacks with their opponents and defended well. It was, however, in the 95th minute when the referee initially missed a defensive foul in the USG 18-yard box. VAR did catch it however, and after several minutes, the penalty was awarded. The Danish striker Madsen found the back of the net for the 11th time this season to bring the final score to 2-2.
The draw was quite an upset for the league leaders and can only give Westerlo some much needed confidence and momentum as they prepare to host Standard Liege on Friday night.
Sint-Truiden 1 – 0 Kortrijk
Kahveh Zahiroleslam was in the starting line-up for the Canaries when they hosted cellar dwellers Kortrijk at the Stayen on Friday night. The American striker put in a 79th-minute shift in this game that was decided by a first half own goal.
It was a game where Sint-Truiden should have done better against the last place team but only managed two shots on goal, the same as their opponents, and barely edged the Kerels in possession with 54%. In fact the only goal of the game was put in the back of the net by Haruya Fujii but unfortunately for Kortrijk’s Japanese defender, he put it past his own keeper.
Now in eighth place, just three places out of the top group, the Canaries will travel to Brussels on Sunday to take on second place Anderlecht.
Standard Liege 1 – 0 Leuven
It took five tries for les Rouches to record their first victory of 2024 but they finally picked up three points on Saturday afternoon against visiting Leuven. Marlon Fossey played for 78 minutes at the Sclessin on the night.
Aussie Aiden O’Neill was the only one to find the back of the net and it was his first goal for his new team, having arrived at the beginning of the season from Melbourne Victory FC. It came in the 19th minute when Steven Alzate found his teammate just outside of the box and with his right foot, the man from down-under struck it into the top right hand corner.
Up next, Fossey and company will travel to Westerlo, who are one place ahead of them in the Pro League standings.
Club Brugge 4 – 0 Eupen
Second-from-bottom Eupen traveled to take on Club Brugge and played as you would assume a struggling team would. Gabriel Slonina was in between the sticks for the Pandas and was called upon to pick the ball out of the back of his net on four occasions.
The scoring got underway quite early, with Casper Nielsen striking after just 14 minutes with his right-footed shot inside the far post from just outside the six yard box. This was followed by Ferran Jutglà’s strike from pretty much the same distance on the half-hour mark.
The second half was pretty similar to the first, with Andreas Skov Olsen scoring for the ninth time in the 75th minute and defender Brandon Mechele getting in on the action several minutes later.
It has been a rough season for Slonina and the Pandas but with five games left in the regular season, they still have a fighting chance of getting out of the relegation play-offs. Next up will be a visit from sixth place Gent.
Mechelen 1 – 1 Genk
With Mark McKenzie going the distance in the Genk defense, the visitors were pinned back and only came away from Mechelen with one point, which drops them out of the top play-off group – for now.
The Smurfs struck first, when Tolu Arokodare scored from very close range off a corner kick in the 32nd minute. But the lead was short lived with Rob Schoofs equalizing just six minutes later, which also rounded out the scoring for the night.
Next up for McKenzie and Genk will be a visit from Molenbeek, who are fighting for their Pro League survival.
