bjorn

Monday 23rd May:

There were some awards to be handed over today.

Belgian Professionam Player of the Year:

The first award was won by Standard’s Emile Mpenza. He ended before Andres Mendoza, who is playing for Club Brugge until the end of the season, and the third place is for Lokeren’s Zoundi.

Past winners: Andres Mendoza – Club Brugge 2004

Belgian First Division Goalkeeper of the Year:

Beveren’s Philip Deckers ended on top for this award as he left Olivier Van Impe of Cercle Brugge and Bran Verbist of Germinal Beerschot behind him.

Past winners: Zvonko Milojevic – Lokeren 2004

Belgian Manager of the Year:

As expected Club Brugge’s Björn Noppe ended on top after his succesful season. In second position we have Sef Vergoossen of Genk and in third we have Marc Brijs of Germinal Beerschot.

Past winners: Björn Noppe – Club Brugge 2004

Belgian Young Player of the Year:

The first position is for Standard’s Jonathan Walasiak and he ended before Sam De Meester, who’s playing in Cercle Brugge and third position went to the other team in Brugge for Club Brugge’s Kim Kallstrom.

Past winners: Zoundi – Lokeren 2004

Belgian Ebony Boot:

The best African in our competition this season was Lierse’s Bernard Tchoutang. He ended before Justice Wamfor of Genk and Club Brugge’s Julius Aghahowa.

Past winners: Adekanmi Olufade – Charleroi 2004

Belgian Man of the Season:

This was a big honour for Club Brugge’s new man Gaston Angel Casas as he ended before Marcin Zewlakow of Mouscron and Germinal Beerschot’s Victor.

Past winners: Oliveira – Sint-Truiden 2004

Belgian First Division Goal of the Season:

The nicest looking goal of the season came from Anderlecht’s Walter Baseggio and the second best goal came from Tom Van Imscoot who scored for Sint-Truiden. In third position we have Charleroi’s Miklos Lendvai.

Past winners: Bart Van Zundert – Germinal Beerschot 2004

Wednesday 25th May:

Could’ve been better.

In the last game of the season for Brugge, they only managed to get a draw at home against Anderlecht. They could have easily won but their finishing was really poor today. It was Aghahowa who opened the score for Brugge but in the second half Jestrovic scored the equaliser.

Brugge were really dominating the game from start to finish today but poor finishing saw the game ending in a draw. The first goal of the game came in the 38th minute when Saeternes’ shot hitted the upright before Aghahowa tipped the ball in. By then it could have been already two or three nil. Just before the end of the first half Kolar pushed Saeternes in the area and the referee pointed at the spot. Ceh stepped up but he blasted the ball right into the keeper’s arms. In the second half Brugge kept dominating but once again they couldn’t finish and when Anderlectht created their first chance of the game, the game was level once again. And so the season ends with a draw.

Final score: Club Brugge 1 – Anderlecht 1
Scoreline: Aghahowa 38 min 1-0; Jestrovic 64 min 1-1
Attendance: 28857
Bookings: Diogo (misses next match), Ceh (misses next match); Jestrovic
Player ratings: Butina 6, Diogo 7, Gvozdenovic 7, Clement © 7, De Cock 6, Aghahowa 9, Englebert 7, Verheyen 7, Saeternes 7, Mendoza 8, Ceh 6

In the other game this evening Mouscron defeated Sint-Truiden with 3-1.

There was more news today as Tottenham beated Newcastle in an all English Uefa Cup Final. When the final result came it looked like Ziege’s brace ensured Tottenham’s win.

bjorn

Thursday 26th May:

There were again some awards to be delivered today.

Belgian Golden Boot:

Anderlecht had the honour to accept this trophy for their goalkeeper Geert De Vlieger. In second position came Lierse’s Kristof Imschoot and he ended before David Nechelput of Mouscron.

Past winners: Zokora – Genk 2004

Belgian First Division Revelation of the Year:

Lierse’s Cliff Mardulier ended on top before Wim De Decker of AA Gent and Carlos Diogo, who finished his first season in Club Brugge.

Past winners: Nicky Hayen – Sint-Truiden 2004

Belgian Player of the Year:

Lierse are very succesful in this year’s awards as Laurent Delorge ended on top as he left Walter Baseggio of Anderlecht and Tosin Dosunmu of Westerlo behind him.

Past winners: Claude Kalisa – Sint-Truiden 2004

Belgian Rookie of the Year:

Stef Wils has won this award for his team Lierse and he ended before Maarten Martens of AA Gent and La Louvière’s Mickael Hiligsmann.

Past winners: Bram Vangeel – Sint-Truiden 2004

Belgian First Division Top Goalscorer:

Club Brugge’s Andres Mendoza ended on top with 23 goals and in second position came Zoundi, who scored 21 goals for Lokeren. In third position is another Club Brugge player as Casas scored 17 times in the competition.

Past winners: Seol – Anderlecht 2004 – 21 goals

First Division Goalkeeper of the Season:

Roeselare’s Jurgen Sierens was very happy with this award as he left Genk’s Carini and Frédéric Herpoel of AA Gent behing him.

Past winners: Davy Schollen – Genk 2004

Saturday 28th May:

This afternoon Man Utd won the FA Cup in extra time against Middlesbrough. the final score was 3-2 as Tuncay scored the winning goal fot the Red Devils.

Final league table:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Club Brugge| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D.| Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Club Brugge | | 34 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 38 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 36 | 15 | +50 | 78 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Standard | | 34 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 40 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 9 | +30 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Genk | | 34 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 33 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 25 | +19 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Germinal Beerschot | | 34 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 35 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 25 | 16 | +35 | 62 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Anderlecht | | 34 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 31 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 23 | +14 | 55 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Lierse | | 34 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 36 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 35 | +8 | 53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Mouscron | | 34 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 19 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 25 | +5 | 50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Cercle Brugge | | 34 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 27 | 24 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 20 | 25 | -2 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Antwerp | | 34 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 31 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 21 | 37 | 0 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th| | AA Gent | | 34 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 22 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 40 | -8 | 43 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th| | Westerlo | | 34 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 23 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 21 | 49 | -19 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th| | Oostende | | 34 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 11 | 34 | -23 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th| | Beveren | | 34 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 28 | 25 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 41 | -19 | 40 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th| | Lokeren | | 34 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 27 | 28 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 22 | 30 | -9 | 40 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th| | Sint-Truiden | | 34 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 26 | 22 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 22 | 41 | -15 | 36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th| | SV Roeselare | | 34 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 22 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 33 | -21 | 32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th| R | Charleroi | | 34 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 28 | 32 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 29 | -24 | 27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th| R | La Louvière | | 34 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 25 | 24 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 16 | 38 | -21 | 26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

As you can see La Louvière and Charleroi will play Second Division football next season and they will be replaced by Union SG and FC Brussels

HD

yay

bjorn

Cheers for the short reply HD, glad to see you're reading this

Season 2004/2005 review:

Transfers + the squad:

When I prepared myself for the start of my second season I was very pleased to have Casas and Diogo in my squad. I expected a lot of them and they really lived up to my expectations. Casas scored more then I expected and if it wasn’t because of his injury at the end of the season, he would have ended as my top goalscore this season I think. Diogo was very solid at the back and he has still a lot of time to develop. When Aghahowa arrived at the club, I knew that I didn’t have any money left for trasnfers, but to be honest he was worth every cent and I don’t regret it that I’ve bought him. The rest of the squad was also good enough as I knew them from the previous season. Stoica was the only player who left my squad, but we received almost €2M for him which is good money for a player that isn’t in your plans.

The First Division:

What can I say? The campagne really ran smoothly as we started of unbeatable and dominating almost all of our games. But after a while we didn’t looked convincing anymore and we started to lose our big lead of 20 points. I was even fearing a bit but my team picked up the good form on the good moment and so we ended the First Division with 12 points more then our first followers. I think we will be favourites once again next year and I surely hope that the players can live up to the expectations.

The Champions Cup:

The whole campagne was unbelievable. We ended on top in a difficult group wich included Milan, Real Madrid and Rangers. The home win against Milan and the two wins against Rangers were really nice and keeping Real at a 0-0 draw at home was also spectacular. In the second round we eliminated FC Bayern and the 3-1 home win will stay with me for a long while. But we had more impressing results against Man Utd, as we took a 0-2 lead at Old Trafford, to loose 3-2 in the end. But our 1-0 at home was more then enough to progress to the Semi Final! That was were it all ended and Juventus gave us a really trashing. My conclusion is that we had an amazing campagne and that this won’t happen again very soon.

The other leagues:

England’s Premier League:

For the second time in a row Chelsea ended on top of the table as they had two points more then Man Utd. Arsenal and Newcastle complete the top-four. Three teams were relegated here as West Ham, Wolves and Leicester couldn’t stay up. Will anyone stop Chelsea in the next season or will they easily win their third tittle in a row.

Italy’s Serie A:

There was no contest for Inter this season as they ended twelve points clear of second placed Roma. Former Champions Juventus ended in third position and Lazio ended in fourth. Cagliari, Lecce and Modena are the three teams that are relegated this season.

Spain’s La Liga:

Real Madrid were once again unstoppable in the Spanish First Division. They had an amazing 18 points lead on second placed Valencia. Deportivo and Betis complete the top four in Spain. Xerez, Rayo and Tenerife couldn’t avoid the drop.

bjorn

Pre-season:

My Pre-season is starting on Wednesday 1st of June. That’s the same day as the Champions League Final. It was Arsenal who were the lucky winners as they won 1-3 in the penalty shoot-out. Henry opened the score for the Gunners but six minutes later Del Piero made the score level again and so the game was decided in a shoot-out. Arsenal may be very happy that they’ve won it as they didn’t deserve to win this game, as Juve controlled for most of the time. Also today I received €5,5M from Champions Cup television revenue. Roma won the Italian Cup with a 5-2 aggregate result against Juventus. There was a real shock in the pre-season as AC Milan appointed unknown Srecko Katanec as their new manager. The Slovenian manager will have a lot to prove. I also picked up Roberto Massaro, a youth product, who was released by AC Milan. I think he might develop in a great player. On the last day of the first month of the pre-season the fans voted Casas as their player of the Year. It’s quiet hectic for the Argentinian striker as there were also rumours going round that he would move to Lazio or AC Milan as both teams are intrested in his services. Also today I received news that my first two youth players were produced. One isn’t looking very promising, Phillippe de Koker, but the other one, Tom Vets, is looking very decent on his age of sixteen. More news today came in as we received €375K for the television rights of the First Division for this season. My board also announced that we agreed a new sponsorship with a local company. The deal is worth €80K over three years. I was more then happy when I heard that I’ve got €23M to spent on new players this season, but with this money we need to win the First Division once again. I don’t think that we will need that money, but it’s greatly accepted. Deportivo signed Real Madrid’s Solari for a fee of €6,5M.

On the first day of July Bizzarri arrived at the club. I’m doubting about which goalkeeper I will use this season, him or Butina. I will see how they perform in the Friendly’s. Also today Mendoza left the club as he joined Anderlecht. I’m very unhappy to lose him as he scored more then 60 goals in the two seasons I’ve been here. Milan bought back Filippo Inzaghi from Valencia. .They paid €4M for him. Arsenal brought in Eidur Gudjohnsen from Sevilla. The club from London paid €7,5M for the striker. Casas, Clement and Van der Heyden all signed a new and improved conract during the pre-season. I brought in another great player from Spain as I bought Guayre from Villarreal for a fee of €2,2M. I was very pleased to have him here as a replacement for Mendoza. Lazio brought in Brazilian striker Gil from Corinthians for a fee worth €12,75M. More transfer news today as Murcia signed Betis’ Fernando for €9,25M. On the 21st of the month Man Utd bought Real Sociedad’s Lee Chun-Soo for €8,75M and Eric Djemba-Djemba. I our first friendly of our pre-season tour we easily defeated Mons with 0-3 as Kallstrom scored before Saeternes added his brace to the scoreline. Against 1. FC Kôln we got a 1-1 draw as Clement headed in our only goal of the game. On Saturday 30th July Inter bought Claudio Lopez from Lazio for €31M which is a new record signing in the game. And with this my pre-season is over as we start the new season.

bjorn

Squad review:

Before we start the new season I will do a squad review. The total season stats are only those under my guidance, so no other club’s history included.

Goalkeepers:

Albano Benjamin Bizzarri, Argentinian, 27y: Bizzarri has just arived at the club and I can say that I’m more then happy to have him in my squad. He’s a great goalkeeper and has a lot of expierence. It will be a difficult choice to choose between him and his rival, who is up next.
Last season stats: signed on a free transfer from Valladolid.

Tomislav Butina, Croatian (9 caps), 31y: His stats aren’t as good as last year but still I thought he played way better then last year. He was a great reason of our Champions Cup campagne and our succes in the league, but still with the arrival of Bizzarri it could be that he starts on the bench, although I’m not quite sure.
Last season stats: 53 apps, 44 con, 23 cln, 8 MoM, 7,13 avg. r.
Total season stats 100 apps, 77 con, 48 cln, 18 MoM, 7,17 avg. r.

Defenders:

Philippe Clement, Belgian (31 caps/1 goal), 31y: Clement has been captain for two years now and he keeps improving. He played better then last year and even scored his first goal for the club while I was managing. I hope he does even better next year.
Last season stats: 50 apps, 1 gl, 2 ass, 0 MoM, 6.86 avg. r.
Total season stats: 96 (1) apps, 1 gl, 2 ass, 0 MoM, 6.80 avg. r.

Olivier De Cock, Belgian (9 caps), 29y: Olivier played as good as he played last year, so I like that because he keeps the same niveau. He hasn’t scored a goal under my era but as long as he does what I expect him to do I’m happy with him, but it could be that another player will start in his position this year.
Last season stats: 55 apps, 0 gls, 1 ass, 0 MoM, 6.53 avg. r.
Total season stats: 101 apps, 0 gls, 5 ass, 0 MoM, 6.52 avg. r.

Peter Van der Heyden, Belgian (18 caps/1 goal), 29y: He surely played at much more important role to the team this year, although his average rating is less. Everything improved for him this season and I still haven’t found a better player for his position so he will also be there next season normally.
Last season stats: 46 apps, 1 gl, 7 ass, 0 MoM, 6.70 avg. r.
Total season stats: 88 apps, 1 gl, 10 ass, 0 MoM, 6.84 avg. r.

Ivan Gvozdenovic, Serbia and Montenegro (1 cap), 26y: All his appearances this year were starters but still I would like to sell him as soon as possible as I don’t need him. He played better then he did last year but he isn’t good enough to replace Van der Heyden on his position.
Last season stats: 13 apps, 0 gls, 1 ass, 0 MoM, 6.92 avg. r.
Total season stats: 23 (5) apps, 0 gl, 2 ass, 0 MoM, 6.79 avg. r.

Birger Maertens, Belgian, 25y: Has played less then last season but this is because Diogo played on his position. He doesn’t play very well the times he plays and so I would like to sell him also.
Last season stats: 12 apps, 0 gls, 0 ass, 0 MoM, 6.42 avg. r.
Total season stats: 30 (4) apps, 0 gls, 1 ass, 0 MoM, 6.59 avg. r.

Vincent Kompany, Belgian (6 caps), 19y: He arrived when the previous season was almost over and didn’t played much as I didn’t wanted to make any changes during the season. I think I will try him out on De Cock’s position and see if it works out. I expect a lot of him.
Last season stats: 0 (4) apps, 0 gls, 0 ass, 0 MoM, 6.75 avg. r.

Midfielders:

Carlos Diogo, Uruguayan (6 caps), 22y: Although he plays as right back I place him with the midfielders as he is listed as one. He adapted very well to live in Belgium and played very great on his position. He impressed me very well in some crucial Champions Cup games and I hope he keeps improving.
Last season stats: 49 apps, 0 gls, 2 ass, 1 MoM, 7.20 avg. r.

Gaëtan Englebert, Belgian (18 caps/2 goals), 29y: Played way better then last year and involves more in the games. All his stats have improved or stayed the same like last year so that’s fine. He will definitely start in the same position next year.
Last season stats: 52 apps, 6 gls, 7 ass, 2 MoM, 7.15 avg. r.
Total season stats: 100 apps, 11 gls, 13 ass, 4 MoM, 7.13 avg. r

Nastja Ceh, Slovenian (26 caps/4 goals), 27y: Played a great season on the left wing. His crosses are almost as good as Beckham’s and he dribbles quite good. I expect the same of him this year.
Last season stats: 53 apps, 4 gls, 20 ass, 0 MoM, 6.85 avg. r.
Total season stats: 97 apps, 9 gls, 33 ass, 1 MoM, 6.82 avg. r.

Kim Källström, Swedish (19 caps/1 goal), 22y: Magnificent season by our Swedish player. I won’t forget his season’s ending as he scored a lot then. At his age of 22 he has still the time to develop even better, but I don’t think he will stay with us for long as some teams are intrested in him.
Last season stats: 54 apps, 12 gls, 8 ass, 5 MoM, 7.19 avg. r.
Total season stats: 97 apps, 18 gls, 13 ass, 6 MoM, 7.01 avg. r.

Julius Aghahowa, Nigerian (35 caps/14 goals), 23y: He arrived here at the start of the previous season or almost at the start, it was a bit later. I spend all my money on him but he was surely worth it as he is a talented player.
Last season stats: 41 apps, 8 gls, 11 ass, 3 MoM, 7.24 avg. r.

Attackers:

Bengt Saeternes, Norwegian (1 cap), 30y: Only played at the end of te season because of injuries to key players, but he did a nice job as he scored a fairly amount of goals. I surely won’t forget his goal against Man Utd which ensured our place in the Semi Finals of the Champions Cup.
Last season stats: 17 (7) apps, 8 gls, 3 ass, 0 MoM, 6.96 avg. r.
Total season stats: 32 (7) apps, 13 gls, 5 ass, 1 MoM, 6.64 avg. r.

Rune Lange, Norwegian (1 cap/1 goal), 28y: didn’t played much this season as I don’t need him anymore. I would love to sell him but there aren’t any teams who want him, sad.
Last season stats: 9 (7) apps, 4 gls, 5 ass, 0 MoM, 6.75 avg. r.
Total season stats: 47 (15) apps, 23 gls, 11 ass, 3 MoM, 6.50 avg. r.

Gaston Angel Casas, Argentinian, 27y:: What can I say? Superb season by the Argentinian striker. At €1.5M he was a real bargain if you saw what he did this season. Hopefully I can keep him for a while but Lazio and Milan are very intrested in him.
Last season stats: 39 apps, 30 gls, 14 ass, 8 MoM, 7.69 avg. r.

Guayre, Spanish, 25y: I bought him for €2.2M so that’s another real bargain. I think he will be a great partner for Casas upfront and I expect a lot of goals between them. If I watch him in training I can only be pleased to have such a talented player in my squad.
Last season stats: €2.2M signing from Villarreal.

Roberto Massaro, Italian, 22y: When I received the news that he was released by his former club I was more then happy to lurk him to my team. He will be on the bench for most of the time this season, but when one of the two strikers is injured he will be the first to get on the pitch.
Last season stats: Signed on a free transfer.

Peacemaker7

Excellent. Thats a lot of hard work going into this, glad to see you're still going strong with it

The CL will come, I'm sure

bjorn

Yup still enjoying it, and the great effort pays of whenever I see that people are reading or replying so thanks you

August, the start of succes? Or maybe not!

Monday 1st August:

The board and the fans are very pleased with my performance as manager. They hope I can do as well or even better like last season.

My manager profile looked like this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Ability to handle pressure 8 sameAmbition 11 sameLoyalty 12 1 upMedia handling 20 sameProfessionalism 17 1 upTemperament 16 sameReputation good good</pre>

Also today I’ve signed Vitaly Kutuzov on a free transfer. He was released by his former club AC Milan and I was the first to offer him a contract. Leeds also tried to get him, but he chose for our club.

Thursday 4th August:

The draw for the Third Qualifying Phase of the Champions Cup was today and I received a message from my assistant manager that we would face either Lithaunian side Kaunas or otherwise it would be Armenian side Pyunik. Both teams shouldn’t be a problem but we can’t be too confident.

We played our last friendly today against Aindling. It was a real trashing for them as Kallstrom, Casas, Ceh, from the spot, Englebert, twice and Massaro, also twice, all scored and the game ended in a 0-7 win for us. I think we are ready for the next season.

Friday 5th August:

The first game of the new season was played today as Germinal Beerschot easily defeated Mouscron with four against one.

Saturday 6th August:

Super Cup Final

Club Brugge vs. Standard
Last meeting: Club Brugge - Standard 1-1

Venue: Jan Breydelstadion: 29958 <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> </pre>Weather: Dry, 17°C


The game got off slowly and the first nice moves of the game came after fifteen minutes. Club Brugge started to control the game and on twenty-one Van der Heyden threw in the ball towards Guayre. He turned nicely with the ball and then he blasted the ball past Telemans to give his team the lead. It was his first goal in his first official game for Brugge. Standard couldn't get Brugge in danger but three minutes after the opening goal Standard took profit of a mistake in Brugge's defence as Dati was unmarked when he fired in the equaliser. The game slowed down and the fans started to think why they came to see this game. The second half wasn't any better as Standard made it impossible for Brugge to play. The game needed a shoot-out to decide the winner. The hero after the penalty shoot-out was new goalkeeper Bizzarri as he made two nice saves to give his team their third Super Cup Trophy in a row.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Club Brugge 1 (4) Standard 1 (2) 1| | Albano Benjamin Bizzarri| |6| | 1| | Patrick Telemans | |5| |18| | Vincent Kompany | |7| | 42| | Hakim Mouloua |sub 45|5| |16| | Philippe Clement (c) | |7| | 41| | Arne Houtekier | |7| | 3| | Peter Van der Heyden | |7| | 8|* | Joseph Enakarhire | |8| | 2|yc| Olivier De Cock | |7| | 2|yc| Xavier Asselborn | |7| |32| | Vitaly Kutuzov | |7| | 3| | Ivica Dragutinovic (c) | |7| |19| | Julius Aghahowa | |7| | 13| | Godwin Okpara | |7| | 8| | Kim Kallstrom | |7| | 45| | Thibaut Detal |sub 45|6| | 6| | Gaetan Englebert | |7| | 15| | Jonathan Walasiak |sub 63|7| |10|lk| Gaston Angel Casas |sub 84|7| | 27| | Emile Lokonda Mpenza | |7| |13| | Guayre | |7|1| 20|yc| Dati | |7|1|------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------14| | Roberto Massaro | on 84|6| | 5| | Melvin Fleur | on 45|7| | 7| | Roberto Bisconti | on 45|7| | 11| | Gonzaque Van Dooren | on 63|7| |</pre>

Here's the explanaiton for the stats.
The yc means yellow card and a red card will be rc. lk means little knonk and injury will be listed as in. the * means MoM and I think the rest is obvious otherwise you may always ask

bjorn

Sunday 7th August:

Cercle Brugge got off to a good start in the competition as they beated Sint-Truiden with 2-0 while Lierse did the same in and against Oostende. Roeselare lost with 0-2 at home against Anderlecht while newly promoted Union SG won their first game against AA Gent with 3-1. Beveren - Antwerp ended in a 3-0 win for the home team while Genk did the same in Westerlo.

Also this evening Roma won the Italian Super Cup final with 2-3 against Inter. Simonetta's brace was the decider of the game.

Monday 8th August:

Today we were made favourites to win the First Division by the bookies. We were placed at 6-4. Anderlecht were placed at 7-4, Standard at 5-2, Genk at 12-1, Germinal Beerschot at 20-1 and Lierse were sixth at 25-1.

There was also transfer news today as Newcastle bought Inter's Cristiano Zanetti for a fee of €11M.

Tuesday 9th August:

Today AC Milan have strenghten their team with a new transfer. They've bought Joseba Etxeberria from Athletic Bilbao for a fee worth €5M. Also today West Ham sold Michael Carrick to Southampton for €4,8M.

Wednesday 10th August:

Jupiler league first division, game 1

Brussels vs. Club Brugge
Last meeting: -

Venue: Stade Edmond Machtens: 11991

Weather: Wet, 29°C

Brussels is one of the two newly promoted teams and they are going to do anything they can to stay up and you could see this clearly today as after seven minutes Culek opened the score for them. Brugge were schocked and started to push forward. Eight minutes after the opening goal Kallstrom crossed a cornerkick into the area, where Guayre picked it up before he scored. Brugge kept dominating but when the first whistle came the game was still level. In the second half there were four dull minutes as Kallstrom scored to give his team the lead, which lasted three minutes as Dekelver scored the equaliser. A minute after that goal Guayre scored his second of the evening to restore their one goal lead. Seven minutes before the end of the game Ernst was sent off as he pulled down the last man just before he entered the area. Brugge took profit of this as Aghahowa scored the fourth and final goal two minutes from the end of the game.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Brussels 2 Club Brugge 4 1| | Patrick Nijs | |7| | 1| | Albano Benjamin Bizzarri| |6| | 3| | Vincent Six |sub 71|7| | 18| | Vincent Kompany | |7| | 4| | Sammy Greven (c) | |7| | 16| | Philippe Clement (c) | |8| |22| | Matthias Naessens | |6| | 3|yc| Peter Van der Heyden | |7| | 5| | Richard Culek | |7|1| 7| | Carlos Diogo | |7| | 2|rc| Didier Ernst |off 83|3| | 20| | Nastja Ceh |sub 78|4| |14| | Christophe Kinet |sub 71|7| | 19| | Julius Aghahowa | |7|1|21| | Wim Van Diest | |7| | 8| | Kim Kallstrom | |8|1| 7| | Gunther Verjans | |7| | 6| | Gaetan Englebert| | |8| |11| | Dieter Dekelver | |7|1| 10| | Gaston Angel Casas | |7| | 9| | Fernander |sub 69|7| | 13|* | Guayre | |9|2|----------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------16| | Yves Cordier | on 71|6| | 32| | Vitaly Kutuzov | on 78|7| |17| | Christophe Van Beneden| on 71|6| |15| | Musaba Selsmanie | on 69|7| | </pre>

bjorn

Friday 12th August:

Owen Hargreaves moved today from German side FC Bayern to Serie A champions Inter Milan for €17,75M.

Saturday 13th August:

Jupiler league first division, game 2

7th Club Brugge (W) vs. Germinal Beerschot 1st (W)
Top goalscorer: Guayre (3) - Asubonteng (3)
Last meeting: Club Brugge - Germinal Beerschot 1-0

Venue: Jan Breydelstadion: 16673

Weather: Dry, 22°C

Both teams were looking to continue their good form but both of them knew that there could only be one of them who did this. Brugge started furious at the game and had a lot of chances early on. In the 16th minute Van Zundert played a long ball towards Asubonteng, who picked it up and fired it past Bizzarri. GBA took an undeserved lead. After that they started to defend in numbers and Brugge controlled once again. But neither in the first half or even in the second half they could score, despite having a great amount of chances. Club Brugge must feel discouraged by this as everything they tried was stopped by Verbist, and so Brugge lost their first game of the season very early.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Club Brugge 0 Germinal Beerschot 1 1| | Albano Benjamin Bizzarri| |5| | 1|* | Bram Verbist | |8| |18| | Vincent Kompany | |6| | 21| | Bart Van Zundert | |7| |16| | Philippe Clement (c) | |7| | 5| | Pieter-Jan Monteyne | |7| | 3| | Peter Van der Heyden | |7| | 4|lk| Kurt Van Dooren (c) | |7| | 7| | Carlos Diogo | |7| | 3| | Carl Hoefkens | |6| |20| | Nastja Ceh | |7| | 13| | Kristof Snelders |sub 84|8| |19| | Julius Aghahowa | |7| | 22| | Kenny Thompson | |7| | 8| | Kim Kallstrom | |7| | 7| | Tim Reigel |sub 74|7| | 6| | Gaetan Englebert | |7| | 25| | Dickson Agyeman | |7| |10| | Gaston Angel Casas | |7| | 27| | Prince Asubonteng | |8|1|13| | Guayre |sub 69|7| | 11| | Victor |sub 74|6| |------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------14| | Roberto Massaro | on 69|6| | 8| | Kris De Wree | on 84|6| | 30| | Miguel Solis Sanchez| on 74|6| | 6| | Kevin Van Engelandt | on 74|7| |Other results: Anderlecht 4 - 1 Cercle Brugge, Antwerp 3 - 1 SV Roeselare, Genk 2 - 1 BeverenMouscron 1 - 0 Union SG, Sint-Truiden 3 - 0 Brussels, Standard 4 - 0 Oostende.</pre>