Despite a lead in the second half, RWDM has not been able to qualify for the eighth final of the Belgian Cup for the first time since its rebirth. Ivann Botella seemed to be organizing a party in Molenbeek, but Massimo Bruno turned the situation around completely by scoring twice as a substitute. Billal Messaoudi, a previous substitute, worked the 1-3 past Théo Defourny in the final seconds.
The home team started the game with the most initiative. Luke Plange waited a little too long in the eighth minute and eventually shot wide. Shortly afterwards, Kortrijk mercenary Youssef Challouk made a good cross from the sidelines, but there was no one ready to work the ball in.
After just under twenty minutes, KV Kortrijk took over the lead of the match. Satoshi Tanaka forced a corner, but it came to nothing. Kristof D’Haene and Habib Keita, among others, fired a shot at the Molenbeek goal, but none of them were effective enough. Even before the halftime signal, Kortrijk lost Dylan Mbayo: the 21-year-old winger had already been injured on the ground and was in so much pain after his shot in the 36th minute that he was replaced by Bilal Messaoudi.
The second half started like the first: with an RWDM leading the debates. They immediately convert that into concrete goal opportunities. In the 51st minute Challouk’s shot landed on the crossbar, goalkeeper Tom Vandenberghe needed a strong reflex for Plange’s subsequent header. A few minutes later, however, Ivann Botella took care of the 1-0: the 23-year-old Frenchman aimed the ball between Vandenberghe’s legs after an assist from Bryan Smeets.
Reversal
About twenty minutes before the end, Kortrijk coach Adnan Čustović added two new names with Dion De Neve and Massimo Bruno, his colleague Vincent Euvrard did the same shortly afterwards with Mickaël Biron and Zakaria El Ouahdi. Čustović’s choice paid off the most: a few minutes after his substitute, Bruno put the signs right again on D’Haene’s instructions.
RWDM immediately tried to take the lead again, but Biron ran into Vandenberghe and the post. However, it was Kortrijk that produced the next goal: Bruno was again in the right place with a rebound. It even became 1-3 via Messaoudi, who had already come on in the first half. With this cup qualification Kortrijk has something to grab hold of, RWDM can then fully focus on its title fight in the Challenger Pro League.
RWDM: Defourny, Le Joncour, Vorogovskiy, Sankhon, Smeets, Plange (70′ Biron), O’Brien, Barreto (78′ Oyama), Challouk, De Sart (84′ Lopes), Botella (70′ El Ouahdi).
KV Kortrijk: Vandenberghe, D’Haene (80′ Sych), Silva, Radovanovic, Mehssatou, Keita, Tanaka, Loncar (67′ Bruno), Henen (67′ De Neve), Mbayo (36′ Messaoudi), Avenatti.
Goals: 55′ Botella (Smeets) 1-0, 71′ Bruno (D’Haene) 1-1, 82′ Bruno 1-2, 90+3′ Messaoudi 1-3
Yellow cards: 30′ D’Haene (violation), 43′ Plange (violation), 71′ Le Joncour (protest), 75′ Tanaka (violation), 78′ De Sart (violation), 79′ Sankhon (violation), 88′ Silva ( foul), 90′ Vandenberghe (time wasting)
Red cards: /
Referee: Arthur Denil
