BELGIAN BUN FIGHT
KAA Gent 1 West Ham 1
Having already played and beaten Anderlecht, and with a victory over Genk from last season, you’d have thought West Ham might have had enough of playing Belgian sides in UEFA competitions. A trip to Israel perhaps. Turkey? Maybe even Slovakia. But no, it would seem as that KAA Gent are to be the third Belgian side West Ham face in less than eighteen months. Should they advance to the semi-finals, they may even find themselves having to face Anderlecht again.
In the history of 120 years of Belgian football, KAA Gent are legendary for starting their seasons badly. This season they lost the Belgian Super Cup Final 1-0 to their great rivals FC Brugge, and only won 3 of their first 10 games. The bad news for West Ham is that this is April and not August. Gent are currently undefeated, having won 5 games over a run of 7.
Gent are known as ‘The Buffalos’ because William Frederick ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody toured Europe with his ‘Wild West’ circus in the early 1900s, playing in Gent, who had just formed a sporting club which didn’t have a name. Slightly unimaginatively, they thought this might be a good reason to start calling themselves, ‘The Buffalos.’ No, me neither.
Gent have won their last three away games 6-2, 4-1 and 5-0, but have drawn two of their last three home games 1-1. Does that mean anything? We shall see.
The first fifteen minutes rush past without their metaphorical feet touching the flawed, both sides looking nervous. There are those who have pointed out that Gent have their eyes more firmly focused on finishing in the upper half of the Belgian League 1 play-offs for a Champions League place rather than have their European fate left in the hands of winning this competition.
The Hammers fans have already started moaning about David Moyes. Why can’t he play Ings up front with Antonio? Well he tried that on Saturday and look what happened. So why not give Scamacca a Premier League start? Well, because he got injured playing for Italy in the international break and now needs surgery before he can recover. Okay, so why not play Dawson? Well, because… so maybe that Sonny Perkins kid deserves a chance? He went to Leeds. Is Mark Noble strictly off limits now? Lingard?
Gent record the first shots at goal stats from distance, but little to seriously trouble Areola. I am still looking down at my ticket, having only secured it a few hours ago, in wonderment at the genius of technology. Having found myself on a number eight bus heading for the ground, my mobile’s Sat Nav revealed as the slow journey elapsed, that my arrival time at the ground would be about ninety seconds before kick off. I subsequently decided to get off twenty-five minutes before and hot foot it to the ground, jumping cycle lanes and slow moving Gent supporters. My pace was sufficient to allow me a more leisurely fifteen minutes to find my way to the entrance past ill-informed stewards and bad-tempered sweary Hammers’ fans. And here I am now, wondering how this will all pan out.
Hammers finally get their shit together towards the end of the half, and from an inswinging Bowen corner, poorly policed by Gent keeper Davy Roef, Aguerd bundles the ball over the line. After a few minutes both sides are back at the halfway line, only for the play to be dragged screaming back to the Gent area where the Greek referee, assisted by VAR, indicates that the Moroccan defender flicked the ball deftly into the Gent net with the use of his right hand. Thankfully the Hammers manage to make the Gent net bulge yet again six minutes later after Coufal’s brilliant throw has put Bowen free down the right, and his swift cross is expertly tapped in at the far post by Danny Ings. Hammers go in a goal up at the break. This tie now looks firmly within their grasp.
I shouldn’t have said that. Something has happened at half time. Maybe Maxwell Cornet has discovered an injury in his sports bag or the team have just realised Craig Dawson has left for Wolves. Either way the Gent players all appear to have had an electric suppository inserted into their respective karma chameleons. Johnson is looking increasingly lost, possibly because he is being played out of position. His normal role is substitute.
Aguerd and Ogbonna get in each other’s way on the hour to let in Hong Hyun-Seok, but thankfully he’s no Son Heung-Min, and the effort sails hopelessly wide. Orban then tries something audacious from distance, but is also just wide. Hugo Cuypers now finds a little space in the box, weaves past Johnson and Aguerd and steers the ball past Areola. The crowd go mad. Cue irritating thumping music and non-literary facile interchange between their PA announcer and what is vaguely identifiable as the Gent Ultras. Clearly not gents.
Subs on now for the Hammers, Antonio replacing the goalscorer Ings and Benrahma for Lanzini. Hammers are suddenly lifted with Antonio holding the ball up three-quarters of the pitch, and Benrahma being prepared to run at the Gent defence down the left channel. Now Pacquetá comes on for Flynn Downes to complete the midfield upgrade, and Hammers start to move the ball up the pitch more regularly through their new subs.
Before you can say ‘Suddenly the 76th minute,’ Pacquetá manages to fashion a perfect through ball for Bowen, who times his run perfectly but offers a heavy first touch and is forced to throw a loose leg out to make the first connection beat Roef, but the effort is wide of the far post. Grrr!
With eight minutes to go, the dreaded Orban hits an athletic overhead kick past Areola but against the bar and away to safety. His reward is to be immediately substituted by his manager. WTF?
Finally into injury time and another bizarre moment in what has certainly been an odd match. Piatkowski is shown a straight red after hacking down last man Lucas Paquetá on the edge of the box, and West Ham fans wonder whether new sub Cresswell can hit a free kick winner. Before the crowd can take stock of what’s just happened, those in the UEFA VAR offices call up the replay to reveal what was a superbly timed tackle. It’s possibly the most skilful moment of the game, as it also reveals the inadequacy of the ref’s hurried response. The ref now goes desperately through the contents of his pockets to recover the offending red card, and has to ask the players who it is he should be un-redcarding. The crowd squirm, and his embarrassment prompts him to blow the final whistle, first chance he gets, once the play’s recommenced.
All that’s left now is to leg it down to the queue of bendy buses lined up for a police escort back to the centre of Gent to grab a late meal and see who wins the game in Brussels between Anderlecht and AZ Alkmaar. The winners of that tie will hopefully provide us with midweek opposition later next month.
So who will be most pleased with the result? Probably West Ham, though it’s maybe worth returning to the unintentionally prophetic fourth paragraph of this article before you agree. Gent seem to have saved their recent best form for their away fixtures.
13 Alphonse Areola, 2 Ben Johnson, 33 Emerson, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 10 Manuel Lanzini, 12 Flynn Downes, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 27 Nayef Aguerd, 41 Declan Rice (captain), 18 Danny Ings, 20 Jarrod Bowen
Substitutes: 9 Michail Antonio, 22 Saïd Benrahma, 11 Lucas Paquetá, 3 Aaron Cresswell
Goalscorer: Danny Ings
