Daz the Imp

Belgium vs. San Marino - European Championships Qualifying Group 1
Stade Roi Baudouin

Belgium - 4-4-2 Attacking
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ^ K. Vandenbergh J. Hermans ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | T. Buffel J. Blondel T. Vanderhaeghe W. Sonck Subs: J-F. Gillet G. De Bilde P. Asubonteng A. Salgado S. Van De Velde J. CavensJ. Van Damme T. Simons V. Kompany P. Collen E. Lokonda Mpenza G. De Vlieger</pre>

San Marino - 4-1-3-2
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> D. Conti D. Biordi ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | | | | | | Subs: R. Gasperoni R. Moroni M. Zanotti N. Chiaruzzi N. Giardi E. Gerini M. Gasperoni M. Mancini A. Francioni G. Muratori M. GiacobbiA. Della Valle A. Gasperoni P. Cupi S. Toccacelli S. Molinari</pre>

Daz the Imp

I was forced to make one change for the Belgium game for the weekend, having to drop Andy Selva for Davide Biordi through suspension. The other ten players all kept their places as they took to the field against the Belgians, with obtaining a respectable score-line their main aim.

It was clearly us who would have to do most of the defending and a lack of respect from the Belgians nearly led to us taking a shock lead. Biordi got in behind the defence before De Vlieger denied him and then Moroni saw his effort just tipped behind for a corner. This woke the home side up though, and Van Damme showed us that this would be very difficult for us when he hit a shot just over the crossbar.

Hermans and Blondel then went close from long range before Molinari was forced into making his first real save of the match. Vanderhaeghe got onto a loose ball in the area and hit a snapshot towards goal the Molinari did brilliantly well to turn behind. Sonck was next to test Molinari before Collen headed just wide, and it seemed it would only be a matter of time before they broke the deadlock.

We were doing well, however, and Conti had a shot saved by De Vlieger, a shot that served as a reminder that we could still take the lead. Timmy Simons hacked a Moroni shot off the line before Molinari kept us in it at the other end when Sonck seemed almost certain to open the scoring.

Kompany and Vandenbergh both had efforts off target that allowed us to go into the break still on level terms. It was a good effort from us but it would take twice as much of an effort to keep the home side out. Buffel confirmed this feeling when he came within inches of breaking us down in the opening couple of minutes of the second half.

It then didn't take long for the scoring to finally start and it was Vandenbergh who found himself with the chance. He was through on goal and succeeded in scoring his tenth international goal to cap a wonderfully crafted Belgium move, Buffel's excellent play making the goal. Despite this goal our heads didn't drop and Molinari made a couple of good saves to make sure we were still in the match.

Molinari was again the main reason why only one goal had been scored when he produced another two superb saves but he could nothing about Belgium's second. Molinari could only parry a header from Vandenbergh after a cross from substitute Emile Mpenza. Vandenbergh was the quickest to react to the loose ball in the area, tucking the ball away from a tight angle, to all but finish the game.

Molinari denied Vandenbergh his hat trick with another good save before Van Damme hit two volleys close to the top right-hand corner. Belgium could not find any more goals, however we could not find any of our own to reply, meaning we went down by two goals to nil, a highly respectable score given the gulf in skill between the two teams.

Daz the Imp

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Minnows Pushed Aside as Belgium Power to Victory

13.6.07

Belgium 2-0 San Marino (European Championships Qualifying Group 1)

San Marino were overpowered by a dominant Belgium display, going down in a 2-0 defeat.

San Marino battled well first half to go in at half-time level on terms but were eventually broken by a goal from Kevin Vandenbergh (51). Vandenbergh (78) added the second and final goal to kill off the San Marinese side, but the result was never really in any doubt.

The gulf in class between the two sides was obvious as Belgium dominated in a comfortable victory at Stade Roi Baudouin. San Marino now have three remaining games left to get their first point and all of them are at their Olimpico Stadium. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">|No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||No. | Name | |Rat|Gls||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------|| 1 | Geert De Vlieger | | 8 | || 1 | Stefano Molinari | | 8 | || 2 | Pieter Collen | | 7 | || 2 | Stefano Toccacelli | | 4 | || 3 | Jelle Van Damme | | 8 | || 3 | Alessandro Della Valle | Booked | 7 | || 4 | Vincent Kompany | | 8 | || 4 | Paolo Cupi | | 6 | || 5 | Timmy Simons (C) | | 7 | || 5 | Alex Gasperoni | | 5 | || 6 |* WESLEY SONCK | | 9 | || 6 | Alessandro Francioni | | 8 | || 7 | Thomas Buffel | | 9 | || 7 | Mirco Zanotti | | 5 | || 8 | Yves Vanderhaeghe |(sub 65)| 6 | || 8 | Raffaele Moroni (C) | Booked | 7 | || 9 | Johnathon Blondel |(inj 67)| 8 | || 9 | Roberto Gasperoni | | 7 | ||10 | Jan Hermans |(sub 45)| 7 | ||10 | Daniele Conti | | 7 | ||11 | Kevin Vandenbergh | | 9 | 2 ||11 | Davide Biordi | | 7 | ||-----------------------------------------------||-----------------------------------------------||12 | Jean-François Gillet | | | ||12 | Nicola Chiaruzzi | | | ||14 | Gilles De Bilde | | | ||14 | Nicola Giardi | | | ||15 | Prince Asubonteng | | | ||15 | Elia Gerini | | | ||16 | Adelino Salgado | (on 45)| 7 | ||16 | Marco Gasperoni | | | ||17 | Steven Van De Velde | (on 65)| 7 | ||17 | Michele Mancini | | | ||18 | Jurgen Cavens | | | ||18 | Gabriele Muratori | | | ||19 | Emile Lokonda Mpenza | (on 67)| 7 | ||19 | Michele Giacobbi | | | |</pre>

Daz the Imp

There are now just three games remaining for each of the six teams involved in our group. It isn't a surprise any more that Slovenia still top the group, but they have now lost there 100% record by losing to Kazakhstan. Belgium's defeat of Spain moves them into second place, but with Spain only three points behind they cannot afford to slip up in their remaining games. Macedonia and Kazakhstan will now battle out for fourth place in the group, and unless we win all of our remaining games, all of which are at home, we will finish bottom. We are the only team yet to record a point.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Group 1 P W D L F A PTS-----------------------------------------------------------------Slovenia 7 6 0 1 12 6 18-----------------------------------------------------------------Belgium 7 5 1 1 18 8 16Spain 7 4 1 2 14 5 13FYR of Macedonia 7 3 0 4 12 14 9Kazakhstan 7 2 0 5 9 14 6SAN MARINO 7 0 0 7 7 25 0</pre>


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Results so far: | SAN MARINO QUALIFYING RESULTS Saturday 9th June 2007 | | San Marino 1-2 Slovenia Spain 0-2 Belgium | Spain 7-0 San Marino Kazakhstan 2-4 FYR of Macedonia | San Marino 2-5 Belgium Slovenia 3-2 SAN MARINO | Kazakhstan 2-1 San Marino | FYR of Macedonia 4-1 San Marino Wednesday 13th June 2007 | Slovenia 3-2 San Marino | Belgium 2-0 San Marino Kazakhstan 2-1 Slovenia | San Marino - Kazakhstan Belgium 2-0 SAN MARINO | San Marino - Spain Spain 4-1 FYR of Macedonia | San Marino - FYR of Macedonia</pre>

SoS

Just read this all the way through


Great stuff, but it's a real shame that you haven't managed to improve on the last qualifications showing. I was hoping you would double Kazakhstan and get something from Macedonia, then pick up some odd points. Guess it just wasn't your year this time