Antwerp Standard, this is the Balikwesha derby. Michel Ange was present for the home team, but William was missing for the visitors. It seemed as if none of his teammates showed up, and Standard’s performance was extremely lackluster.
Just five minutes later, Janssen had already scored. Nice goal from the turn, but the defense was fundamentally weak. Around the 15th minute, Van Heusden committed a handball inside the penalty area. While the VAR was reviewing the images, Janssen knocked the ball out of Moja’s hands. The penalty was taken and the Dutchman sent his double miss against RWDM into oblivion.
Without devastating dominance or overwhelming football, Antwerp easily stayed in front, with Botez and Alderweireld between the lines. Hinkent, who replaced the ill Boddart in goal, was left to his fate. Ekkelenkamp and Muja were given complete freedom to make the scores 3-0 and 4-0.
During the first half, Hofkins injected some fighting spirit into his touring squad. It came to nothing numerically, as Standard went no further than a long shot from Dewailly. For Antwerp, that was no longer necessary, and so the match continued.
The triple switch on both sides brought more excitement. Balikwesha was first thwarted by a challenge from Van Heusden, but the score was 5-0 anyway. Alzate fumbled and substitute Ilinykhina gifted a goal from a blind ball from the middle. After a beautifully played attack, Palicuecha were allowed to completely humiliate their former team. The score was 6-0, and things could have been worse had Hinkent not made a brilliant save from Vermeeren’s shot.
Vincent Janssen cruised to an early double lead for Antwerp. “That 2-0 scoreline was absolutely fantastic. It’s usually one of those moments when you start thinking: ‘Are we going to go on or not?’ When it’s 3-0 up and you hold it until half-time, you know it’s that way. It went like this.” “It’s going well. And I think it was also 4-0,” he lost count.
“The score is 1-0, the ball came to me through the grapevine. To my left from about fifteen metres, that was a shot. If the assumption is correct, you shoot. That’s the striker’s instinct. Regarding the penalty kick,” the coach was very clear. He indicated that I would accept it. This confidence is good, also from the players. Fortunately, it went well.”
Antwerp is back on track, and the Dutch striker sees that too. “This win was very important for us, especially with the international break approaching. We will go into this period feeling good.”
Karl Hofkens arrived with some delay to our colleagues from Eleven. “There is still a lot to be said, and this seems natural to me. What I said is not for TV. I think it is important that we learn the right lessons from this.”
“A lot of things weren’t good anyway. If you’re 4-0 down at half-time, that’s a huge mountain to climb. It was a completely unfair game,” said the Standard coach. “We have incredible highs and incredible lows. We’re still searching for the golden mean.”
“The circumstances of the match were also very disappointing. The first goal after three minutes and before you knew it it was 3-0. In another match I would like to say a word about the referee, but that is useless. The positive thing is that ‘it can’t get any worse’ So. We have to grow from here. “Getting to a low point like today is impossible, it’s that simple.”
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