Even without Vermeeren it works: Antwerp trembles in the final phase but is in the Croky Cup semi-finals after victory against OHL

Even without Vermeeren it works: Antwerp trembles in the final phase but is in the Croky Cup semi-finals after victory against OHL

The outgoing cup winner can still succeed himself. Even without goldcrest Arthur Vermeeren (18) – on his way to Atlético – Antwerp qualified for the semi-finals after a 2-3 win in Leuven.

This report starts just under two hours before kick-off, when we were told that Arthur Vermeeren would no longer play. He himself would have liked to take action and Mark van Bommel also wanted to play him, but the coach “listened to the club”, because his bosses naturally thought differently. Putting on a jersey meant jeopardizing the transfer (and 25 million euros), because he was bound to get injured. After all, the deal with Atlético has not yet been completed. But Vermeeren will in principle fly there on Friday to take a look and to finalize everything. He can always pull the plug himself, although that would be very surprising. Especially because Tottenham also called but was told that he would not go there. He thinks it’s a bit early for the Premier League anyway.

Equipment man Arthur Vermeeren (top center) watches attentively from the bench.

Foto: Isosport

Vermeeren, who traveled to Den Dreef, tried to support the team in his own way. He was put on the score sheet as ‘equipment manager’ – equipment man in other words – and so he could take a seat on the bench. On the field, one year older but much less experienced youth product Milan Smits took his place. Van Bommel did not have many other options.

Cup keeper knocked

It had absolutely nothing to do with Smits that Antwerp fell behind after just over a minute. Yes, the match started dramatically for the Great Old, because after a particularly stupid loss of ball by Muja, who was again at right back, N’Dri got the ball. He tapped aside to Youssef Maziz and the bleached playmaker did what he also did in his previous two matches (against Eupen and Anderlecht): score. Somewhat beautiful even. He spooned the ball past cup keeper Senne Lammens in one go.

Even without Vermeeren it works: Antwerp trembles in the final phase but is in the Croky Cup semi-finals after victory against OHL

Maziz was allowed to celebrate a goal for the third match in a row, and what a goal.

Photo: BELGIAN

Given the whole situation, you might have expected the Antwerp players to give up, but they didn’t. Five minutes later the equalizer was a fact, thanks to Ejuke. The Nigerian had clearly not finished dribbling after his brilliant performance against Charleroi and OHL captain Schrijvers was caught. He tapped it and the ball rightly hit the spot. Easy trick for Vincent Janssen, who kicked hard and high into the middle of the goal.

He’s a top striker, Janssen. Anyway, he played in support of Ilenikhena again and therefore more as a midfielder. But almost twenty minutes into the match he was cleverly played by Keita, he delivered a scorching blow with his supposedly inferior right hand and once again defeated Leysen. His fifteenth goal of the season already. And they say that the Dutchman was not feeling well beforehand.

What followed was a miss by Smits, who almost caused the 2-2 with a bad bounce. However, the home team failed to take advantage and had to rest behind, because the spectacle value went down a bit and many opportunities no longer followed.

Even without Vermeeren it works: Antwerp trembles in the final phase but is in the Croky Cup semi-finals after victory against OHL

Double goalscorer Vincent Janssen receives a hug from the young Milan Smits, who was in the starting line-up for Antwerp for the first time.

Foto: Isosport

First professional goal

Just after the break, Thorsteinsson took his first chance, but he aimed at Lammens. It would be a real pain for OHL, because a few minutes later there was cheering on the other side. An apparently harmless corner ended up at the feet of Zeno Van den Bosch due to mistakes by Pletinckx and Leysen. The young defender scored the 1-3 from a few meters and cheered with the fans. We just made an article about him, because he also deserved attention, and look: he promptly scored his first professional goal, to the delight of a laughing Vermeeren. Antwerp with one leg in the semi-finals.

N’Dri still struggled seriously. In the sixteen meters he slalomed past several men, which also put him in a promising position. He almost counted himself rich, but Lammens kept him from scoring the tying goal with an excellent save.

Even without Vermeeren it works: Antwerp trembles in the final phase but is in the Croky Cup semi-finals after victory against OHL

And whether Van den Bosch was happy with his goal.

Photo: BELGIAN

Ten minutes before the end it became exciting, when a cross ended up with the free-standing Mathieu Maertens. The substitute playmaker curled the ball against the ropes from an acute angle. OHL started to believe in it again and with a little more luck the 3-3 would have still been there. But it was Antwerp that was allowed to celebrate despite a late red card for Janssen (twice yellow). Vermeeren did that too, perhaps for the last time as a player for RAFC.

OH Leuven: Leysen, Shlomo, Dom, Pletinckx, Sagrado, Schrijvers, Miguel, Schingtienne, Thorsteinsson, Maziz, N’Dri

Antwerp: Lammens, Muja, Van Den Bosch, Alderweireld, Wijndal, Keita, Smits, Ekkelenkamp, ​​Janssen, Ejuke, Ilenikhena

Replacements: 58′ Schrijvers by Maertens, 58′ Thorsteinsson by Nsingi, 58′ Pletinckx by Banzuzi, 64′ Muja by Bataille, 64′ Smits by Ondrejka, 72′ Miguel by Braut Brunes, 82′ Ilenikhena by Kerk, 90+4′ Ondrejka by Corbanie

Goals: 2′ 1-0 Maziz, 8′ 1-1 Janssen, 18′ 1-2 Janssen, 54′ 1-3 Van Den Bosch, 79′ 2-3 Maertens

Yellow cards: 50′ Janssen, 55′ Sagrado, 65′ Banzuzi, 74′ Ekkelenkampx

Red card: 90+3′ Janssen (2x yellow)

Spectators: 5.888

Referee: Bert Put (7)

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