Gent's substitutes hand Cercle a bitter cup defeat, 2-0
Barely two days after the World Cup final, Cercle Brugge and KAA Gent squared off in the quarterfinals of the Belgian Cup. Cercle generally played a good match and seemed to have a grip on the match, until two goals on the counter in the second half of extra time broke the Association, the match finishing 2-0.
In the early stages of the match, Gent seemed to want to take matters into their own hands, although this did not lead to any strong attempts. After ten minutes Hotic tried his luck from outside the box, but his attempt went just over and wide of the gent goal. Just past the fifteen minute mark, Deman almost gave the Groen-Zwart the lead. Our left wingback had done well to get forward and got the ball at the right time from World Cup participant Ueda, but his attempt caromed off the crossbar. Cercle did retain control of the game in the first half, though. After a short periodn when play dipped, both De Sart and Vadis tried to score, but Warleson was not troubled by Gent's long shots. Towards the end of the first half, both Castro-Montes and De Sart were cautioned after they stopped a Groen-Zwart counter.
In the second half, Gent often were able to get loose. First Hjulsager shot the ball past Warleson, but from an offside position. Then, at times it looked more like a Bruges than a Ghent home game: Somers first tried with a very hard shot that just flew wide, and not much later he was found at the far post but the frame stood in the way of his scoring the opener. Due to their high press, the Groen-Zwart picked up the ball again and this led to a huge chance: Hotic cut the ball back from the line, but Deman was an inch or two short of converting this fine action into a goal. And the biggest chance had not even arrived yet: a hard-working Ueda put the ball oin towards the back post, but Denkey could not get on the end of it. It was 0-0 after 90 minutes, so extra time would decide who would advance to the quarterfinals.
Deman was soon given a second yellow card: Cercle had to continue with ten men. Furthermore, the first half of extra time looked sloppy and limited, although Gboho could have tucked home a cross from Denkey.
The second part of extra time was too much for the Groen-Zwart; Hauge was sent into space via a counter and then simply turned Cuypers to make it 1-0. The lock was broken and Gent knew that too. After another counter and a strongly struck ball, Gent killed off the match via Fofana.
