Belgium Advances In The Olympics

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.