soccerballsoccerball
Belgian_National_Team

Red Devils Friendly Matches


Last updated: Wednesday 27 May 1998
Mail to : marc.delperdange@student.kuleuven.ac.be




Wednesday 22 April :

Belgium - Romania

1 - 1


Attendants : 15.000
Referree : Norman (Sweden)

44th min : 0-1 Moldovan
77th min : 1-1 Nilis



Starting line-ups :



BELGIUM :

Oliveira - Nilis
Boffin - Van der Elst - Wilmots
Van Kerckhoven - Clement - Verstraeten - De Brul
Van Meir
De Wilde

Substitutions :
46th min : De Brul > Crasson
46th min : Van Meir > De Boeck
56th min : Verstraeten > Verheyen
68th min : Oliveira > Goossens
87th min : Nilis > L. Mpenza

ROMANIA :

Hagi - Moldovan
G. Popescu - Filipescu - Ilie - Munteanu
Petrescu - Prodan - Dobos - Gilca
Stelea

Substitutions :
58th min : Ilie > Selymes
73th min : Hagi > Serban
79th min : Moldovan > Niculesku
90th min : Gilca > Dulca

Match Report

Georges Leekens changed his team again on a few positions. Belgium was again playing with a last-man (Van Meir) behind a four-man defense. Leekens said that this match was to experiment for the match against the Netherlands on the World Cup. Romania and the Netherlands are both teams which have very skilled players who play quick soccer.

But in this match, the Romanians were not really showing off that quick soccer. In the first half, it was Belgium who had some nice chances. First keeper Stelea was able to stop a shot of Wilmots, and a bit later he had a lot of trouble with the header of Oliveira after a center of Boffin. But just a minute before half-time, the Romanians had a nice chance as well. Hagi centered the ball to Moldovan, who was able to pass Verstraeten, and beat De Wilde with a shot in the lower corner of the goal : 0-1.

In the second half, Romania needed a lot of fouls to stop Belgium. This resulted in a red card for Dobos, just 2 minutes in the second half-time. Belgium started to get forward more often, and the Romanians felt they couldn't keep it, with 10 players. After a nice cross of captain Van der Elst, Nilis controled the balled, and shot the ball in the goal : 1-1. In the final minute, Stelea had to stop another header of Wilmots to prevent Belgium from taking an undeserved win.

The next friendly matches of the Red Devils are on a tournament in Morocco, end May. On the 5th of May, coach Leekens will select a group of 25 players, as a pre-selection for the World Cup !!

Another interesting fact is that the dispute between Leekens and Scifo is resolved. Scifo is again ready to play for Belgium, if he is selected by Leekens.


This was the full selection of coach Georges Leekens :

Goalkeepers :
- Filip De Wilde (Anderlecht)
- Filip Van de Walle (Aalst)
Defenders :
- Bertrand Crasson (Napoli - Italy)
- Glen De Boeck (Anderlecht)
- Tjorven De Brul (Club Brugge)
- Davy Oyen (Racing Genk)
- Eric Van Meir (Lierse)
- Mike Verstraeten (Germ. Ekeren)
Midfielders :
- Danny Boffin (Metz - France)
- Philipe Clement (Racing Genk)
- Franky Van der Elst (Club Brugge)
- Nico Van Kerckhoven (Lierse)
- Marc Wilmots (Schalke04 - Germany)
Attackers :
- Michael Goossens (Schalke04 - Germany)
- Lokonda Mpenza (Standard)
- Luc Nilis (PSV Eindhoven - Netherlands)
- Luis Oliveira (Fiorentina - Italy)
- Gert Verheyen (Club Brugge)


Again a few changes in the selection from the match against Norway : The Club Brugge players Staelens, Claessens, Borkelmans and Deflandre were not selected anymore, most of them due to small injuries. The only new name in the selection was defender Davy Oyen, now the second player of Genk in the selection, because Clement was again selected.



Mail to : marc.delperdange@student.kuleuven.ac.be

back Go back to the main-page
back Go back to the Red Devils main page



This page hosted by GeoCities Get your own Free Home Page
1