Match Report
First half:
So how do Luxembourg approach a match in which they know they will most likely lose by a heavy scoreline? Their manager’s up in the stands; he’ll be unable to direct them. The players will need to be prepared beforehand for any eventuality. Instinctively, it could be very demoralising going a goal down to superior opposition in the early stages. However, with a game plan it doesn’t necessarily have to be so bad. The first aim will probably be to avoid losing by six, like they did last time around when they played the Belgians at home. This is not home, though. You’d probably be pushed to try and identify more than a handful Luxembourg fans among the 9000 or so crowd. Philipp, the manager suspended for this game, had to make do without their undoubtedly best player in Guy Hellers, who was plying his daily trade in the Belgian top flight with Standard Liège, although not actually as a team mate of any of these Belgian players. Forward Robby Langers, at French second tier club Orléans, was indeed their only professional player among the starting home eleven, but substitute Jeff Saibene was registered as a player of the same Belgian club as the absent Hellers: however, he rarely appeared for the Standard Liège first team. Indeed, he had only made one league appearance, as a 82nd minute sub, during the 88/89 season. Saibene would move on to Swiss top flight club Aarau during the summer break.
Belgium, fresh from their inspired 2-1 win at home to Czechoslovakia, were building up momentum ahead of the closing stages of the qualifying tournament. Only a few days earlier had they won against a good Yugoslavian team at home, so the only question was indeed as to how big a margin they’d win the game by. The experienced Thys knew he could take nothing for granted, so he did of course field his very best players available to him. Jan Ceulemans had been seen in an attacking midfield capacity against the Czechoslovakians, but was back as the target man here, and Degryse, who had had such a phenomenal performance then, was slightly withdrawn to the right of the big man up top. Van Der Linden, with his pending move from Antwerp to Anderlecht in the coming weeks, was seen slightly to the left. There was, however, no Luc Nilis, but they realized they would not have the same amount of space against Luxembourg as they had enjoyed in the win against Czechoslovakia, and so would have to deploy a different tactic. Ceulemans would be the player to look to, as he was spearheading the attack, though shadowed by the rugged figure of Luxembourg defender René Scheuer for most of the night.
There was little in the opening exchanges that suggested anything but backs to the walls for the ‘home’ side. Indeed, before eleven minutes had been played, Les Diables Rouges had had three headed opportunities: two from big Jan and one from Degryse. John van Rijswijck is a steady custodian between the Luxembourg sticks, and he had to draw on all his guile to keep out the second effort, which came from close range and was caught right before it was crossing the line for a Belgian lead. However, it was only a case of delaying the inevitable, and the ‘visitors’ got their opening goal following a huge Gerets throw from the right, which evaded both Ceulemans and the two Luxembourg players Scheuer and Scholten, bounced once deep inside the area, before Van Der Linden could control his header past the goalkeeper and into the net, and despite Bossi’s desperate efforts to try and clear it on the line.
At every opportunity Luxembourg do their utmost to keep the pace down, as they always struggle as soon as Belgium pass the ball quicker among themselves. Belgium often try to get crosses in from wide areas, with both Gerets and Emmers seen executing this particular bit of tactics from the right hand side, and Versavel and Vervoort doing the same opposite. The head of Ceulemans is usually the target, and he does come close to scoring on a number of occasions during the first half alone. The ‘home’ goalkeeper is doing well to keep him out. The big striker is brave as he challenges van Rijswijck for the ball as the goalkeeper comes off his line to collect a cushioned header from Van Der Linden, but although Ceulemans gets his head to the ball, he can only deflect it off the Luxembourg no 1 and out for a corner kick from the left. Both Ceulemans and Petry, who had also taken a hit in that same challenge, needed to be attended to as a result.
Luxembourg’s amateurs are unable to keep the ball for longer spells, but do have the occasional entry inside the Belgian half, and indeed from one such move they could have equalized as Langers got himself on the end of a rare decent cross from Girres, after Krings had done well to feed him down the right hand line. Langers’ finish was neither hard enough nor placed well enough to escape the arms of Preud’homme, alert to any danger despite being stood behind his defence without seeing a lot of action. It is also Langers who will have the next shot away from the hosts, but he can’t connect cleanly from nearly 25 yards, and the ball trickles into the arms of the ‘keeper. Otherwise Sanders is following Langers rather closely, and there is not a lot the forward can do during the opening 45 apart from what’s already been mentioned. Krings, his forward partner, has no pace, and is a simple catch for the Belgian defence, where Demol often sweeps with a bit of a distance to the other defenders. In midfield, Van der Elst will spread the ball to both sides, and he is perhaps the single player on the pitch to have the highest number of touches during the first half.
As the half draws nearer to an end, Luxembourg become increasingly tired, and Belgium muster a few decent opportunities before the break. Nearest of all comes Vervoort, whose right foot connects cleanly with the ball when it has been headed out to him after a Degryse corner from the left: his effort rocks the crossbar and rebounds back into the penalty area, though the visitors are unable to make further efforts count. Vervoort again has an opportunity to test his boot when he gets to shoot from 22 yards. This time he is well over with his left foot. Then right on half time the ‘home’ team are presented with a glorious opportunity to equalize: Demol dallies on the ball on the half way line, loses his concentration, and Langers nips in and steals it from him. With no further defenders between himself and Preud’homme, he seems odds on to draw Luxembourg level, but having raced a full 40 yards, he’s already had too much time to contemplate how to finish, and he ends up being caught in two or several minds, not even getting a shot away. His idea was probably to take it round the goalkeeper, but he loses the ball as soon as he gets inside the area. The least you would have expected him to do was to test Preud’homme. As it is, both the visiting number 1 and Demol could breathe a collective sigh of relief. It is half time, and Belgium are just the one goal to the good. No doubt Guy Thys will have a lot to tell his players during the break.
Second half:
It is the Luxembourg front two of Langers and Krings who kick the second half into action. They will quickly concede possession, and Belgium appear to have a bit more urgency about their play early in the second period. The visiting side will try to release Emmers or Degryse down the right hand side, for them to try and aim for the head of Ceulemans in the centre, a recipe which is close to yielding a second goal for the visitors only two minutes after the restart. It is Degryse’s cross which finds his fellow Club Brugge forward, who gets up above Bossi, but Ceulemans can only direct his header just over van Rijswijck’s goal. However, from the next attempt they will increase their lead: Vervoort had remained on the right hand side after an earlier attack had been halted, and when he has time to pick his cross, Ceulemans gets to the ball ahead of his marker Scheuer and flicks the ball on for Van Der Linden to more or less side-foot home into a gaping net, as Jeitz on the back post is unable to get close enough to prevent the striker from scoring his second.
The visiting team need to keep their pace up in order to outplay the hosts. There is not much danger of Luxembourg finding a way back into the match, but Thys will surely not be happy unless he leaves Lille with a solid margin of victory. They are still very much in the ascendancy, but do not create a lot of openings, and they can not quite keep up the early second half pace. And so Luxembourg manage to defend rather easily, with manager Philipp an uneasy figure in the stands. The ‘home’ team try to keep the pace as slow as possible, but Emmers still manages to get into a couple of crossing positions from the right, something which will always create havoc in the Luxembourg defence. Their defenders will hit it long anywhere just to be relieved of pressure, even if they are aware that the ball will be returned with interest, and this increasing level of away team pressure will eventually result in Degryse receiving the ball in the area from Vervoort. As he takes on Petry, he goes right and then suddenly left, and the Luxembourg libero brings the light footed forward down for a penalty. This gives Van Der Linden the opportunity to complete his hat-trick, which he does as he sends van Rijswijck the wrong way with his right-footed spot-kick.
Shortly after 3-0, Sanders plays Degryse in with a short pass, and 25 yards away from the home goal, he’s brought down by Petry, who’s having a greatly troubled minute. Degryse pushes the resulting free-kick a yard on to Van Der Linden, who momentarily traps the ball under his right foot, before Vervoort comes in and smashes it into the top left corner for a fantastic finish. It really is a goal from right out of the top drawer. With about 20 minutes of the second half gone, Belgium are on their way to copying that heavy win they had last time they played Luxembourg away. They have been very efficient during the first part of the second period. Can they keep it up?
Petry’s tackle on Degryse leading up to Vervoort’s goal could perhaps have warranted a yellow, but the only booking of the game is dished out for Jeitz as he brings down Gerets inside his own half. Van der Elst is sick and tired of the constant fouling from the home side, but to his credit refrains from venting his frustration other than rolling his eyes. Is he perhaps realizing that his time is in when Thys tells Scifo to warm up along the touchline? Van der Elst’s had a good game in the Belgian midfield. Apart from one stray pass in the first half, he’s often dictated the pace, and when he’s been switched on, Luxembourg’s defenders have had a difficult time in trying to keep up with the raffined movement from the Belgian forwards ahead of Van der Elst. Some of the visitors’ passing has been a joy to behold, but one does feel that they could have done it on a more frequent basis. However, there can be few complaints when you are four goals to the good, no matter what the opposition.
20 minutes from time Luxembourg are possibly deprived of a very good goalscoring opportunity, when again the lively Langers is in the centre of the action: Krings tries to feed him with a fine pass, but the linesman on the near side incorrectly flags for offside against the pacey forward. Television replay shows he’s a good half a yard onside when Krings tries to play him in. Sanders had played him onside, though not according to the referee’s assistant. Perhaps some sort of justice is done when Vervoort has a headed goal disallowed down the other end a couple of minutes later? Again the cross comes in from Emmers, but the left-sided midfielder appears to have started his run just a fraction too soon.
Both sides make their first change with about 15 minutes remaining: Scifo replaces Van der Elst for Belgium, although he’s brought back by the linesman before he can run onto the pitch, as the flag man’s detected that he’s not wearing shin pads underneath his socks. So he’s ordered back to the bench to attend to these matters. Then Luxembourg will take off the workmanlike Jeitz and replace him with Saibene, who’s slightly better on the ball, but whose workrate does not quite match that of today’s only booked player. However, Saibene will have a fine final quarter of an hour, as he tries to engage his central midfield partner Birsens in short passing between the two, and he will also try to release both Krings and Langers with passes that are of a more constructive kind than what had been seen from Jeitz. It is also Saibene who will have Luxembourg’s final goalscoring opportunity in the remainder of the game when Langers gets away from Sanders down the right hand side and crosses for the onrushing midfielder, whose side-footed effort goes tamely over Preud’homme’s goal from 12 yards out. He really should have done better, and at least have made the goalkeeper work. This is after Luxembourg have brought on big man Malget for Scholten in the wide left position. Scholten had done a lot of running and covered a lot of ground on the left hand side. The player who comes on, though, is more a centre forward than a classic winger.
Scifo is obviously a quality player, and he does seem to inject a bit of life into an often mundane Belgium, certainly moving slightly to the right of the pitch in order to team up with both Emmers and Degryse, a frightening proposition for any opponent. Still the visitors do not get any closer to a fifth than when Ceulemans can get round van Rijswijck after Petry had tried to tackle the ball to safety. With the goal gaping, though from an angle, Ceulemans hits the left hand post. It is a glaring miss from the 32 year old, who hides his head in his hands. Right before the 90 minutes are up, Van Der Linden does finally add a fifth, and his fourth, for the visiting team: Some good combination play between Scifo and Versavel enable Van Der Linden to get a nearly scuffed shot away, and the ball trickles over the goalline with Ceulemans in close attendance in case it does not make its way across. ‘Big Jan’ does not wish to take the goal away from Van Der Linden, and credit to him for that.
Conclusion: a 5-0 win in international football is an emphatic victory, yet there was a feeling about Belgium that they only did what they needed to do and little more. The part-timers of Luxembourg were never a match for them. Indeed, whenever Belgium decided to up the ante, the home side would be chasing shadows. The visitors did show a few attacks in which their intricate short passing and intelligent movements came to fore. Altogether, though, it was not a match that made the audience wish to applaud cheerfully throughout; only sparingly were the 9000 or so in attendance willing to put their hands together. The win takes Belgium to eight points from five, so they look almost assured already for one of the two qualifying berths.
68′, sub 76′