Belgium Upsets Italy In The Olympics

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