No Arslanagic ... could be looking into Bosnia? No Engels ... Club being extra careful? ... Lestienne on his way to ??? Bakkali ... what's worse: going back to the youth team or not being selected at all? Colin Coosemans (Waasland-Beveren) Davy Roef (RSC Anderlecht) Matz Sels (KAA Gent) Laurens De Bock(Club Brugge KV) Jason Denayer (Celtic Football Club) Thomas Foket (KAA Gent) Bruno Godeau (KVC Westerlo) Jordan Lukaku (KV Oostende) Brandon Mechele (Club Brugge KV) Ibrahima Cissé (KV Mechelen) Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Mönchengladbach) Junior Malanda (VFL Wolfsburg) Dennis Praet (RSC Anderlecht) Youri Tielemans (RSC Anderlecht) Hans Vanaken (KSC Lokeren OV) Michy Batshuayi (Olympique de Marseille) Massimo Bruno (Red Bull Salzburg) Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (AS Monaco) Paul-José Mpoku (Standard de Liège) The final match ... words we know all too well: it's still mathematically possible ... good times http://www.uefa.com/under21/season=2015/standings/round=2000412/group=2002308/index.html
De Bock ... this one is more important than a useless friendly (even if that one is with the senior team) Lestienne to Genoa ... Engels seems fit ... unsure why they're not selected Arslanagic ... even during a spell of poor form the captain could have been helpful in the locker room/on the bench Bakkali ... looks like PSV will let him rot on the bench until the next transfer window Also missing guys like Henen, Bossaerts, etc. Update Davy Roef, Ibrahima Cissé, Thorgan Hazard, Jordan Lukaku en Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had to be replaced: Colin Coosemans (Waasland-Beveren) Guillaume Hubert (Standard de Liège) Matz Sels (KAA Gent) Laurens De Bock(Club Brugge KV) Jason Denayer (Celtic Football Club) Thomas Foket (KAA Gent) Bruno Godeau (KVC Westerlo) Brandon Mechele (Club Brugge KV) Pierre-Yves Ngawa (Lierse SK) Junior Malanda (VFL Wolfsburg) Dennis Praet (RSC Anderlecht) Youri Tielemans (RSC Anderlecht) Hans Vanaken (KSC Lokeren OV) Hannes Van Der Bruggen (KAA Gent) Michy Batshuayi (Olympique de Marseille) Massimo Bruno (Red Bull Salzburg) Nathan Kabasele (RSC Anderlecht) Paul-José Mpoku (Standard de Liège) PS maybe not the best idea to let Malanda make runs into the box ... miss of the season already and he did it again:
Cyprus v Belgium starts today around 5pm CET. Thorgan Hazard, Jordan Lukaku en Yannick Ferreira Carrasco ... could have stayed with the U 21 (try to land a EURO ticket and maybe even go to the Olympics).
The Belgian candidacy to host the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship has been positively evaluated by the UEFA. - http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News/1.2083700 According to Het Nieuwsblad, it's looking that our bid will be successful.
Looks like Anderlecht will be playing in a new stadium soon: http://www.belgianfootball.be/nl/nieuws/brussel-gaststad-van-euro-2020
"Als alles goed loopt zijn er in 2020 vijf EK-wedstrijden in Brussel" Unsure about that 5th tie ... won't the opening game be one of the 3 group ties? Also the opening game could go to one of the (standard package) hosts that had to miss out on the QFs ... Budapest and Brussels were selected in the 2nd phase ... if having a capacity of at least 60K is also required to be eligible for the opening game, Brussels might have a decent shot at kicking off the 'EURO for Europe'.
Can you elaborate? ... Anderlecht seems to receive less from taxpayers than other clubs do ... while they also generate more revenue in their little corner of Belgium than others. Besides taxpayers won't have to subsidise the new national stadium as the plan is to look to the private sector ... at least that's what we've been told ... compared to other countries, we're "frugal". PS how happy are you with Oulare http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/voetbal/Jupiler_Pro_League/140922_vandenbempt-over-obbi-oulare-en-montage
A modern arena generates lots of dough. Whichever way the financing is done, Anderlecht will get such a financial advantage out of being the only team with a 50K+, state of the art stadium that it will essentially make our league pointless. e.g. Ajax generates 250K per game from the Arena.
Almost 20 years have passed since Ajax played their first game in the Arena ... when you compare that Arena era with the same amount of seasons that preceded it ... you'd think that Ajax would have won more Eredivisie titles ... yet they've won less titles in the Arena era (which includes their current run of 4 successive titles) ... and to illustrate the decline of Arena era Ajax in the UCL with a few quotes ... in the early noughties their annual report still proclaimed: "the ultimate ambition of Ajax is to win the Champions League" ... roughly 10 years after Bosman this was deemed "hopelessly optimistic considering their low budget and the unbridgeable financial gap". Unlike our clubs, Dutch clubs can boast about their very impressive gate receipts & commercial revenue ... still the Arena isn't what sets Ajax apart nor being a UCL minnow ... it's being a football factory that does and it's what keeps them in the black. When looking at our leagues the competitive element feels pointless unless it's about increasing a player's pricetag ... only the UCL or very deep UEL runs provide that kind of "excitement" (Mangala's transfer fee increasing with almost 50M after leaving Standard also shows that we're not that exciting). What's worse, the transfers of top players in our pint-sized league, like Odjidja and Vossen, illustrate that we're already educating players for a 2nd tier league ... the Championship's expenditure in the previous transfer window eclipsed that of the Belgian and Dutch leagues combined. 1 club from the Qatari league has even outperformed all the clubs from either of our leagues (Al Arabi, the 18th biggest spender this summer, is also paying wages that are at least 3x higher than those paid by e.g. Standard or Club) ... educating players for the top 5 leagues is one thing, educating them for leagues you're supposed to be able to compete with is hard to stomach. The new national stadium, Ghelamco, Club's plans for a new stadium ... anything that helps Belgian clubs & players grow stronger has my support ... imho we have to focus mainly on improving our youth development ... according to Mariman we can do better - http://www.metronieuws.nl/sport/keerzijde-van-voetbaleuforie-in-belgie/SrZmii!9nHRKAPYeiZM/
Well Club is being blocked by the authorities at every turn in their own stadium dossier. D'Hooghe was still our chairman when it was already getting ridiculous in terms of the amount of red tape involved.
If the KBVB doesn't assist with the stadium financing, then realistically there shouldn't be a problem. A privately built stadium with Anderlecht as a rent paying tenant is reasonable in my opinion. I can sort of understand the concerns of the other clubs in Belgium but across the board our stadium infrastructure is shockingly out of date. With Gent and Waregem there's been some improvement but yeah, we're 30 or 40 years behind. Holding Anderlecht back isn't going to help the situation. It's amazing how shoddily we invested as a whole in the Euro 2000 stadiums. The Heizel was past it before it opened (horrible place to watch a match), Jan Breydel and Sclessin aren't brilliant either (though I do like how steep the stands are in Liege, great atmosphere when full). Don't get me started on whatever the hell they did in Charleroi. Maybe a successful project in Brussels will kick start other clubs into building (I realize that Brugge has been screwed over by red tape, but again it isn't the KBVB or Anderlecht's fault, blame lies with the Flemish government and the NIMBYs in the Brugge suburbs).
Off topic: I still can't believe there is such a massive football vacuum in Antwerp. I sorta think it would be the type of city to benefit from an investor like Red Bull (i.e. like what they have done in Leipzig). Buy an unknown club in the Belgian lower divisions, invest a fairly small sum in getting them promoted a few times to the Pro League. They would probably need a large increase in spending to compete for the title and Champions League, but in the grand scheme of things that would be nothing to a big company. A team that is fairly new may be able to attract football fans in Antwerp put off by the whole Beerschot-Royal Antwerp rivalry. It may also find it easier to attract funding for a stadium because there's no stigma attached to it. Add in the fact Antwerpen has produced some great players (Dembele, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Alderweireld), it seems like a no brainer.
Antwerp ... it's beyond me that one of our biggest cities lacks a top tier team ... I agree that there's plenty of talent in their backyard (still haven't watched "De Pleintjes" though ... also features Nainggolan) ... hopefully RAFC gets their sh1t together ... what Gent can do, Antwerp can do better? KFCO Beerschot Wilrijk ... a bunch of top tier clubs in Portugal draw crowds only halve the size of what this provincial club attracts ... Portugal's population is about the same as ours, yet with our spending power we shouldn't be lagging behind ... before the introduction of stricter rules, we weren't ahead either and we didn't look more sustainable. According to the Swiss Ramble "the use of the Estádio do Dragão only requires an annual payment of around 1M" ... Ajax is paying 10x that amount for the use of the Arena ... and Anderlecht could end up paying even more (although they'll get a decent ROI as corporate hospitality is what Belgians do best ... unsure if their gate can rival that of the Arena but then again they also can learn from the failed Ajax Experience). OHL ... when students leave, you're left with a very quiet city ... regardless OHL shouldn't be a yo-yo club and Vlaams-Brabant should be able to support at least 1 top tier club (often Anderlecht gets that support instead). Also what will happen to Anderlecht's CVS stadium? ... OHL will remain in Leuven ... White Star has owners from Dubai and Kompany's BX Brussels does look like a nice project ... more likely it will be repurposed for the Memorial or demolished. KAS Eupen ... that Aspire project looks a lot more solid than Beveren's Ivorian legion ... promotion is only a matter of time. STVV ... need to get back to the Pro League asap ... they have a decent stadium and like Duchatelet said 2nd division isn't viable.
Well it's probably a good thing we never got the WC. Realistically speaking, there was no way we were ever going to get enough stadiums built in time. The amount of time and money you have to spend before you can move one brick in Belgium. Club has already spent a small fortune in study costs and is no closer to a solution than it was 7-8 years ago.
Bakkali moving to Chelsea? The media in the UK believe there's an agreement in principle. http://www.caughtoffside.com/2014/1...-wonderkid-dubbed-new-eden-hazard-in-january/
Bakkali and his managers/entourage are idiots. He should look at El Ghanassy and Carcela. Great talents, but made the wrong moves and now they're paying for it in the supposed primes of their careers.
I have to agree with you that Bakkali is making poor choices ... the kid (+ entourage) is making his own bed and he'll have to sleep in it ... according to Arno Vermeulen the same approach that PSV had taken with Depay didn't work on Bakkali ... is he completely lost? ... Bakkali is very young and despite everything that went wrong still in demand ... I'm hoping he can turn things around at a new club. Also what's going on at PSV ... Labyad, Toivonen, Andreas Pereira, etc. Reportedly Chelsea wasn't pleased with the support that their players received at Vitesse (they were almost entirely left to their own devices) ... compared to PSV, Vitesse looks like a warm nest ... at least they weren't involved in fights (even Depay and a teammate got into one) nor did their players snub their fans. IMHO Belgian clubs can also improve in this respect ... several players have said that they feel more welcome/at home in foreign clubs (eventhough the food wasn't always as good, e.g. when the UK was the destination).