Belgium World Cup Team Blog » Olympic Games

International Friendly: Germany Downs Belgium

julien — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:47:25 +0000

I apologize for the late post. I moved into my university dorm recently and classes just started. I have been really busy. Last Wednesday, Belgium played an international friendly against footballl powerhouse Germany. It was their 23rd encounter against the Germans. They have a huge upperhand on us in the series with 18 wins, just 4 losses, and 1 draw. The three-time FIFA World Cup champions and runners up to the Euro 08 beat us 2-0. The first goal was scored in the 58th minute thanks to a stupid foul from Van Buyten on Gomez that set up a penalty kick. Schweinsteiger scored the goal on the penalty spot beating Stijnen. Then later in the 77′, Marin gave Germany another goal, sealing the match. Belgium has only won 1 match this year under René Vandereycken and that was against a club side, Standard. I want our main squad to be as successful as our youth. The Belgium olympic squad had a nice run. I will recap the Brazil match in the coming days.

Nigeria Ends Belgium’s Goal Medal Hopes

julien — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:33:41 +0000

Belgium’s road to the Olympic Men’s Football Final ended yesterday against Nigeria. After solidly advancing from the group stages and upsetting Italy, the Nigerians proved too much for the Young Devils. The match started out strong for Nigeria. Offensively, they were sound all match leading to a final score of Nigeria 4-1 Belgium. This match came down to two things: fatigue and tactics. In the first half I could tell that the Belgians were missing the charisma from their earlier matches. The Italians really wore them down. Our players didn’t have much in the tank to play against Nigeria. Moussa Dembélé, who was a key presence in our earlier matches, didn’t do much yesterday. I think fatigue was involved. Also, our 4-5-1 formation did not fare well against Nigeria’s 4-3-3. Nigeria was able to mix up their offense with that formation. It seemed like they never attacked the same way. Nigerian passing was crisp and accurate. They usually managed to find Peter Odemwingie. The Belgian defense wasn’t weak, just fragile since we lacked possession for most of the match. Plus we couldn’t close down the midfield. For most of the match, the ball was in our third of the pitch. You never want to see that. Both teams’ goalkeepers came up with big saves. Vanzekin was Nigeria’s best defense and Bailly prevented a massacre. It was a hugely disappointing result for us considering what we accomplished earlier this tournament. “We are very disappointed with the result. We had bigger expectations for this game. We knew that we were going to be playing a very strong team who possess great strength and great speed, but they caused us too many problems in the opening 30 minutes. After that we had chances and I thought that we were the better team, but then they scored the second which made life very difficult for us and after that they controlled the rest of the game. I think they have a great chance to win the tournament. Now we must target the bronze medal” (Belgium coach Jean-François de Sart). Our next match is the Bronze Medal Match this Friday. We will play an angry Brazil from their loss to Argentina. Belgium already played Brazil in the group stages. That match ended well for the Belgians (Brazil 1-0 Belgium) considering we were against Brazil and we finished with only 9 men. This next match could be very different. Dunga’s men will be looking to take some silverware from this competition. It won’t be easy. Line-ups:

Nigeria:
VANZEKIN Ambruse
OKONKWO Chibuzor
APAM Onyekachi
ADELEYE Dele
ADEFEMI Olubayo
KAITA Sani
AJILORE Ebenezer
OGBUKE OBASI Chinedu
OBINNA Victor
OKORONKWO Solomon
ODEMWINGIE Peter
JAMES Monday
ISAAC Promise
AMBROSE Efe
ANICHEBE Victor
EKPO Emmanuel
EZENWA Ikechukwu
OLUFEMI Oladapo

Belgium:
BAILLY Logan
DE ROOVER Sepp
POCOGNOLI Sebastien
SIMAEYS Jeroen
HAROUN Faris
VERTONGHEN Jan
MARTENS Maarten
VANDEN BORRE Anthony
DE MUL Tom
MIRALLAS Kevin
DEMBELE Moussa
MA-KALAMBAY Yves
CIMAN Laurent
MULEMO Landry
ODIDJA-OFOE Vadis
DE WINTER Yves
VERMAELEN Thomas
FELLAINI Marouane

Yellow Cards: Ebenezer AJILORE (NGA) 5′, Jeroen SIMAEYS (BEL) 41′, Chibuzor OKONKWO (NGA) 61′, Vadis ODJIDJA-OFOE (BEL) 69′, Jan VERTONGHEN (BEL) 76′.

Goals: Olubayo ADEFEMI (17′), Chinedu OGBUKE OBASI (59′, 72′), Chibuzor OKONKWO (78′), Laurent CIMAN (88′).

1st Half
-Nigeria starts the match off with immediate pressure on the Belgian defense. Odemwingie was a part of the nice buildup.
-Ajilore gets an early booking (4′).
-Dembélé wins an early corner (8′).
-Nigeria continues to successfully find Odemwingie on the attack.
-Poor defense lets Adefemi score on a rebound.
-Nigeria continued to dominate possession.
-The Belgiums are having trouble sinking their teeth into the match.
-Towards the end of the half Belgium finally had some possession.
-de Sart is agitated.
-Obasi keeps showing us his technical prowess with stepovers and crisp passing.
-Handball from Simaeys draws a yellow card.
-Belgium’s 4-5-1 isn’t faring well against Nigeria’s 4-3-3.
-44′: Mirallas and Dembélé had a nice opportunity on a counter-attack.
-45′: Linesman gets an offfside wrong. A replay shows that Mirallas was well onside. Bad call.

2nd Half
-Terrific save by Bailly in the 50′.
-The Nigerians continue to play offensive footie.
-Vanzekin continues to make great saves.
-Belgium has picked up the pressure in this period.
-Vertonghen almost scored on a volley.
-Belgian defenders plead for an offside, but the linesman kept his flag down. Nigeria scores again pouring salt into Belgium’s wounds. Belgium has half an hour to even the score.
-Martens is substituted. He gives his captain armband to Vertonghen.
-Bailly has played well in goal all match for Belgium. He makes another great save in the 65′.
-It’s over for Belgium *sighs*. Nigeria scores again in the 72nd minute.
-Belgium makes their final substitutions.
-Dembélé hasn’t played as well in this match.
-Okonkwo patiently waits and scores in the 78′. The ball hit the side post and ricocheted in. Logan Bailly seems crushed mentally.
-de Sart has a hopeless expression on his face.
-Nigeria continues to dominate possession even late in the match.
-Laurent Ciman gets sort of a consolation goal for Belgium in the 88′.
-Final score Nigeria 4-1 Belgium.

Also, today the Belgium National Football Team (Rode Duivels as opposed to our Olympic squad) play Germany today in an international friendly at Nürnberg. We will be without Fellaini, Kompany, and Mpenza in that match.

Belgium Upsets Italy In The Olympics

julien — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:34:07 +0000

Amid 50,802 spectators in Beijing Workers’ Stadium, Belgium’s youth shocked the world. They upset Italy 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the Olympics. “We are a team with few stars, but a strong will,” said Moussa Dembélé. “First, we’re like brothers out on the pitch, all of us working for our mates. Secondly, we never stop attacking. We’ve shown that we can attack so far at this tournament. Even after we conceded the first goal against Italy, we pressed forward all the time and took them out of their comfort zone.” In the opening minutes of the match (17th), Belgium was reduced to 10 men. Thomas Vermaelen was red carded for bringing down Acquafresca in the penalty area. They played with 10 for most of the match. Italy was awarded a penalty and Rossi soon scored the first goal of the match. Moussa Dembélé equalized for Belgium just 5 minutes after Rossi’s goal! The goal was scored on a corner kick from De Mul that was headed in by Dembélé. Italians complained that the goal never went in since it looked like Luca Cigarini cleared it off of the goal line. Italy coach, Pierluigi Casiraghi admitted that he did not see it after watching it during the match and on t.v. afterwards. Kevin Mirallas gave the Young Devils their first lead in the first half’s extra time. Mirallas has scored 2 goals in 4 appearances so far during this tournament. Things began to turn worse for Belgium. First in the 68th minute, Logan Bailly injured his shoulder from a fall thanks to bumping into Italy’s Rossi. A fresh Yves Ma-Kalambay came on and soon faced a penalty. Foolishly, the Belgians conceded another penalty kick in the 74′ from Sepp de Roover’s foul on Paolo de Ceglie. How ridiculous. We could have lost the match, because of that. Rossi tied the score shortly after from the penalty spot. Surprisingly, the young Belgians kept their composure and fought on. Dembélé scored the goal that put the icing on the cake (or waffle) in the 79′. Belgium hung on and the Italians’ frustration continued as their goalkeeper, Emiliano Viviano was red carded for messing with Kevin Mirallas. Amazing result for Belgium! “My players were fantastic today. In the first half we were 10 on 11 and still we were the best team on the pitch. Every time our efforts were dangerous. We received two penalties and after that we find energy to attack. So I have only one word for my players: fantastic” (François de Sart). Tomorrow, Belgium meets Nigeria in the semi-finals. The Nigerians should be a formidable opponent for us, but I think our boys have proved that we can get the job done. “We know Nigeria is a strong team,” said Dembélé. “It’s not going to be easy for us, but we managed to beat Italy in the last game and we are growing in confidence. Nigeria may be good, but we are a team not to be overlooked.” Match line-up:

BAILLY Logan
DE ROOVER Sepp
VERMAELEN Thomas
POCOGNOLI Sebastien
SIMAEYS Jeroen
HAROUN Faris
VERTONGHEN Jan
MARTENS Maarten
DE MUL Tom
MIRALLAS Kevin
DEMBELE Moussa
MA-KALAMBAY Yves
MULEMO Landry
VANDEN BORRE Anthony
ODIDJA-OFOE Vadis
DE WINTER Yves
CIMAN Laurent
FELLAINI Marouane

Belgium Advances In The Olympics

julien — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:20:24 +0000

Belgium advanced out of the group stage yesterday from a victory against New Zealand. The Young Devils finished second in the group with 2 wins, 1 loss, and 6 points. Brazil won the group with 9 points. This Saturday we play a quarterfinal match against Italy. That should be tough. Yesterday’s match against New Zealand was disappointing. We only won by one goal. The final score was 1-0. The Kiwis held their own really well. Defensively, they were sound. Belgium failed to capitalize on their numerous opportunities even when New Zealand was down a man. So far there has been at least one red card in every match Belgium has played. Line-ups:

New Zealand:
SPOONLEY Jacob
SCOTT Aaron
HOGG Ian
BOXALL Michael
OLD Steven
JENKINS Sam
PEVERLEY Cole
ELLIOTT Simon
HENDERSON Craig
ELLENSOHN Daniel
KILLEN Chris
VAN ROOYEN Shaun
TINKLER Cole
DRAPER Greg
MESSAM Sam
LITTLE Liam
BROCKIE Jeremy
NELSEN Ryan

Belgium:
BAILLY Logan
DE ROOVER Sepp
VERMAELEN Thomas
POCOGNOLI Sebastien
SIMAEYS Jeroen
HAROUN Faris
VERTONGHEN Jan
MARTENS Maarten
DE MUL Tom
MIRALLAS Kevin
DEMBELE Moussa
MA-KALAMBAY Yves
CIMAN Laurent
MULEMO Landry
VANDEN BORRE Anthony
ODIDJA-OFOE Vadis
KOMPANY Vincent
FELLAINI Marouane

1st Half
-Both sides have possession early on.
-Belgium is doing a nice job finding Mirallas.
-Most of the possession soon came Belgium’s way.
-Belgium finally scores on a corner kick in the 35′ from Haroun.
-Kevin Mirallas is playing really well.
-The Belgians played very confidently in this first period.

2nd Half
-The half opens with a red card on Ellensohn (NZL).
-Vermaelen was stretchered off of the pitch from a harsh tackle.
-De Mul blew a scoring opportunity. New Zealand’s goalkeeper, Spoonley, wasn’t positioned welll so De Mul should have scored.
-Pocognoli just missed a booking from a harsh tackle.
-90′: Surprisingly, Belgium still hasn’t scored another goal on a 10 men New Zealand side.
-3 minutes added time.
-Dembélé nearly scores in the 91′.
-Disappointing final score: New Zealand 0-1 Belgium.

Belgium Defeats China Amid Another Wave Of Red Cards

julien — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:54:05 +0000

With 1 loss in the Olympic Games against Brazil, Belgium was looking to get some points. Going in against China we were the favorites, but the Chinese were looking to impress their home supporters. It is sort of remarkable the impact that home field can bring to a team. China came out fresh and vigorous. They had almost a perfect start to the match. Ball possession was dominated early by the Chinese and in the opening minutes of the first half they almost scored. It was nerve wrecking to watch for a Belgian fan. Belgium regrouped and soon scored the first goal of the match breaking the Chinese momentum and spirit. They seemed down after that. Later in the match two red cards were handed to China: a harsh challenge by Tan and an elbow/harsh push from Zheng. The Argentine referee was questionable, and I was sad to see it end the way it did for China. It seemed a repeat of Belgium’s last match except our opponents had to finish with 9 men this time. Not us. With a crippled Chinese line-up, Kevin Mirallas sealed the match for Belgium ending it 2-0 in our favor. Man of the match has to go to Moussa Dembélé for his presence on the field and early goal. Great result for Belgium. We are in a good position to advance from the group. Belgium should get 3 points against New Zealand. I think we may take it 2-0. Line-ups:
Belgium:
BAILLY Logan
DE ROOVER Sepp
VERMAELEN Thomas
POCOGNOLI Sebastien
SIMAEYS Jeroen
HAROUN Faris
VERTONGHEN Jan
MARTENS Maarten
DE MUL Tom
MIRALLAS Kevin
DEMBELE Moussa
MA-KALAMBAY Yves
CIMAN Laurent
MULEMO Landry
VANDEN BORRE Anthony
ODIDJA-OFOE Vadis
KOMPANY Vincent
FELLAINI Marouane

China:
QIU Shengjiong
TAN Wangsong
FENG Xiaoting
YUAN Weiwei
LI Weifeng
ZHAO Xuri
ZHOU Haibin
ZHENG Zhi
CUI Peng
GAO Lin
JIANG Ning
HAO Junmin
HAN Peng
CHEN Tao
SHEN Longyuan
WAN Houliang
DONG Fangzhuo
LIU Zhenli

1st Half

-Early offside for Belgium on Mirallas.
-Gao has an early scoring opportunity. He had a perfect shot to score. No Belgian defender was in front blocking the shot. Gao’s shot goes wide.
-Bailly made a sloppy kick to get the ball out of his half of the field.
-8′: Goal Belgium! Great shot from Dembélé from a tough angle. The Chinese surely won’t go away. We need to keep pressing.
-Belgium has attacked more since the goal.
-The Chinese have lost confidence it seems. They came out guns blazing. Now they are timid and sitting back.
-Belgium got away with a handball in the penalty area.
-The Young Devils keep getting caught offside.
-Good first half for the Belgians. The match started out nervous for them with China’s Gao nearly scoring in the opening minutes. Then Belgium regrouped, scored, and picked up the pressure in the half.

2nd Half
-Early offside for Belgium.
-Wow. Tan is red carded for a harsh challenge. He threw his body into a Belgian player. It was a strong body slam. China is down to 10 men.
-Jiang almost ties the score for the host nation.
-NO WAY! Now China is down to 9 men. Zheng was red carded. China has to do what Belgium did last week, try to survive the 2nd half with just 9 men. The call seems harsh from the referee. I am speechless, really. I didn’t want the match to turn out like this. And for the host nation… Damn.
-A reverse angle camera shot of the red card incident shows Zeng pushing and it looks like he elbowed the opponent.
-De Mul had a nice shot.
-2nd goal for Belgium late in the match (early 80th minute) thanks to Mirallas.
-China has two great scoring chances. They could just bring the score a little back.
-84′: Belgium’s second goalscorer is substitued, Mirallas.
-Through passes have worked well for Belgium since the field is more open with less men.
-3 minutes added time.
-Final score 2-0 Belgium wins.
-China had 2 red cards but 9 less fouls than Belgium (12-21).

Brazil Barely Beats Belgium: Nine Men, Ronaldinho, Dunga, and More!

julien — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:59:53 +0000

Men’s Olympic Football commenced yesterday in China. Eight group stage matches were played. In Group C, football giants Brazil faced off against a politically splitting country, Belgium. Belgian supporters got a chance to witness the future of our national team. How does the future look? It isn’t back to the Jean-Marie Pfaff days, but the team will be the best it has been in the last several years. Our young players aren’t prodigies. We are just developing a very solid Rode Duivels squad. Brazil barely beat Belgium in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games by a score of 1-0. Our defense was solid and the Young Devils had some nice scoring chances. I wish the Rode Duivels played like our Olympic squad. A good and respectable result for Belgium. However, one wonders if it could have ended differently if we weren’t down to 9 men on the pitch. Yes, you heard right. We finished the match with only 9 players on the field. Belgium played rough defensively for most of the match, which conceded 4 yellow and 2 red cards. Starting line-ups, coaches, and referee:

BELGIUM: Bailly, De Roover, Kompany, Vermaelen, Pocognoli, De Mul, Fellaini, Vertonghen, Martens, Dembele, Mirallas. (subs : Ma-Kalambay, Ciman, Simaeys, Mulemo, Vanden Borre, Haroun, De Smet).
Coach : Jean-François De Sart.

BRAZIL:
Renan, Rafinha, Alex Silva, Breno, Marcelo, Hernanes, Anderson, Lucas, Diego, Ronaldinho, Pato (subs: Diego, Thiago Neves, Ilsinho, Sobis, Jô, Ramirez).
Coach : Dunga
Injuries : Thiago Silva.

Ref: Al Ghambdi (Saudi Arabia).

1st Half
-Maarten Martens is wearing the Belgium captain’s armband.
-Fellaini commits an early foul on Ronaldinho.
-Hernanes (BRA) gets an early yellow card.
-The pace started out very slowly.
-Belgium misses a great scoring chance: A pass from Mirallas to De Mul nearly scored.
-Several early fouls from both sides.
-Brazil is having trouble breaking through the Belgian defense.
-Vincent Kompany gets yellow carded.
-Fellaini misses another scoring opportunity on a downed Renan (BRA) after Renan saved a shot from Mirallas.
-A Ronaldinho free kick flew easily into Bailly’s hands.
-The pace of the match hasn’t been very fluid.
-Rafinha (BRA) receives a harsh foul.
-1st half ends. Choppy half like I said earlier. Sloppy play from both sides. I wish the passing was better. Nevertheless, each team had numerous chances to get on the scoreboard.
-Belgium finished the half with 16 fouls committed.

2nd Half
-Rafinha almost scores in the opening minutes of the period.
-Brazil continues to press and obtain opportunities on goal.
-The Young Devils had very little possession in the opening 10 mins. of the half.
-Ronaldinho keeps setting up key plays.
-Mirallas just misses the goal with a low shot. What an opportunity!
-Substitution for Belgium: De Smet.
-2nd yellow for De Roover! He is ejected from the match! Bad news for Belgium.
-We are down to 10 men for the remaining 18 minutes of the match.
-74′: Brazil and Belgium make several substitutions. Mirallas is off for Simaeys.
-Goal Brazil! 78′: A determined shot and effort from Hernanes. The Belgian defense almost closed him down.
-Oh my…2nd red card for Belgium: Fellaini. Wow! F***. It was his second yellow…9 men currently on the pitch for Belgium.
-5 minutes extra time! Too many for Belgium. de Sart must be so nervous right now.
-93′: Brazil almost scores a second goal, but it was waved offside.
-Final score Brazil 1-0 Belgium.
-Belgium sits at the very bottom of the group with 0 points due to the draw in the China/New Zealand match.

Olympics Preview and Milk Cup Recap

julien — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:18:10 +0000

Tomorrow, Belgium kicks off their Olympic Games trip against Brazil. The match starts at 18 H (local time) and will be played at Olympic Stadium in Shenyang. Yesterday, our players had their first official practice there. It was a closed practice. According to Sport.be all of the Young Devils were able to train. Yves De Winter is fully recuperated. Vincent Kompany was the last player to arrive with the Belgium olympic squad. He just arrived Monday at 7:30 (Shenyang time). Belgium’s first match of the competition will be tough. We are up against a Brazil side that has Ronaldinho, Diego, Rafinha, and Alexandre Pato. Sadly, I don’t see us taking any points from this encounter. I predict a score of 3-0 Brazil. de Sart probably isn’t expecting much from the match. We need to focus more on our upcoming matches that we can win against New Zealand and China. New Zealand seems pretty weak, but China could give us problems. They undoubtedly will want to impress their home supporters. China will definitely have a 12 man squad thanks to their home field advantage and patriotic compatriots.

2008 Milk Cup: Since 1983 the Milk Cup has been held annually in Northern Ireland. It is a youth football tournament that has national and club sides. There are three different sections: Elite, Premier, and Junior. The Elite section features just U-19 national teams. Premier and Junior feature club sides but are different ages (U-17 and U-15 respectively). The Elite competition started in 1995. Turkey and Paraguay have won it the most (3 times). Like the Toulon Tournament, it is not under the supervision of a major football governing body such as UEFA or FIFA. This was Belgium’s first Milk Cup appearance.

Belgium sent two different national squads to the event: U-16 and U-19. The Belgium U-19 squad played against Northern Ireland (host) and USA in the tournament and our U-16 only played against Israel. Unfortunately, the Milk Cup official website doesn’t release too many match result details. Brief match summaries:
Monday, July 28, 2008
8.00 pm Belgium 2 v 2 Israel Riada Stadium, Ballymoney

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
8.00 pm N.Ireland 5 v 4 Belgium Showgrounds, Ballymena

NORTHERN IRELAND MILK CUP PLAY-OFFS (Friday, August 1st, 2008)
1.00 pm 3/6th Place 1 USA 2 v 1 Belgium Riada Stadium, Ballymoney

Belgium Ties South Korea

julien — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:38:47 +0000

This Saturday the young devils, Belgium’s olympic squad, faced South Korea’s U-20. The match was a last minute preparation friendly for the upcoming Olympic Games. Tom De Mul score the first goal of the match in the 57′ thanks to a pass from Jeroen Simaeys. Belgium dominated the match and had numerous chances to score. However, the South Korean defense hung on allowing them to get a goal back. Kim Bok Kyung tied the score from a penalty kick. Belgium’s line-up:

Bailly, De Roover (46′ Ciman), Simaeys, Vermaelen , Pocognoli (65′ Mulemo), De Mul (65′ Vanden Borre), Fellaini (46′ Haroun), Vertonghen, Martens, Dembele (46′ De Smet), Mirallas (81′ Odjidja Ofoe).

Tomorrow, I will write about Belgium’s run in this year’s Milk Cup.

Olympic Games Countdown For Belgium: 3 Days!

julien — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:28:23 +0000

Yesterday, Belgium’s olympic squad arrived in Shenyang, China. There they will finish practicing and preparing for their first Olympic Games match against Brazil. The match is this Thursday leaving the young devils three days to prepare. Yves De Winter didn’t practice yesterday since he had the flu. Kevin Mirallas supposedly practiced despite of his knee injury from the South Korea friendly. Today, the Belgians practice from 18 H to 20 H (Chinese time) at the Tiexi Sports Centre. The first 15 minutes of practice will be open to the media. In the upcoming days, I will have a Milk Cup recap and details of the South Korea friendly.

Mirallas Will Play In South Korea Friendly

julien — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:53:17 +0000

Belgium olympic coach, Jean-François de Sart, is convinced that Kevin Mirallas will be fit enough to play against South Korea this Saturday. The young Belgians will play their U-20 squad in Seoul. Stijn De Smet is completely healed from his injury. He practiced with the team yesterday whereas Mirallas practiced on his own. De Sart expects Mirallas to rejoin the team in practice on Wednesday. The Belgian’s Wednesday practice consists of fitness and practicing on the field. Things are looking good for Belgium in the Olympics. We come off of a great performance against our tough neighbors, the Netherlands:
“The result is deceiving [0-1 score against the Netherlands]. We analyzed the match and I am satisfied with our 1st half. We played fresh football, but we failed to score. However, besides a small foul by Kompany, we didn’t let our opponents have any scoring chances. Defensively, we were very positive. The 2nd half wasn’t as good for us. Our players weren’t ready physically to play 90 minutes.”
-Jean-François de Sart (Belgium olympic coach).