Rain, face masks and 4,600 brave fans. Belgium-Ivory Coast will go down in history as the debut of Zinho Vanheusden, Alexis Saelemaekers, Sebastiaan Bornauw, Hendrik Van Crombrugge and Joris Kayembe, and the first starting places for Brandon Mechele and Leandro Trossard. Michy Batshuayi scored, a penalty foul by Bornauw put an end to a series of twelve victories for the Red Devils: 1-1.
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It had to be a party. The joyful return of the fans to national team games. The football association had initially counted on 11,000 fans-in-bubbles. But ticket sales did not go smoothly and when the federal and Brussels governments announced tightened corona measures, admitted fans were brought to 7,000. The association said it had sold 6,200 tickets, but in the end only 4,600 fans found their way to the King Baudouin Stadium. The result of the autumn weather, of corona fear, or a combination of the two?
The 4,600 brave people not only had to brave rain, wind and a slew of corona measures, they also initially received little value for their money. The greatest stars sat on the couch or in the stands. Roberto Martinez had chosen the game to experiment like he has never done in his four-year reign as national team manager.
The eleven basic players came to 102 caps – less than ten on average per player. Michy Batshuayi (30 caps) was the most experienced pawn, Simon Mignolet (25 caps) wore the captain’s armband. Zinho Vanheusden and Alexis Saelemaekers made their debut, Brandon Mechele and Leandro Trossard were allowed to start for the first time.
With Mignolet, Mechele and Hans Vanaken, the experimental Devil’s team wore a blue-black appearance. Vanaken took his position at the center of the team like a glove. Brandon Mechele played comfortably in the middle of a defense with three. Mignolet distinguished himself by combining well beyond the sixteen with his rear players.
A fourth Club player, Odilon Kossounou, started on the bench at Ivory Coast. The debuting national coach Patrice Beaumelle started with his best eleven. But just like in Belgium, it was a matter of searching for automatisms. It was almost a year ago before “Les Éléphants” had played a match.
And so we got a practice match like practice matches often are. Slow in pace and poor in opportunities. Jérémy Doku played again in Brussels, but the acquisition of Rennes was little involved in the game. In the image of his match against Iceland, which we remembered mainly because of his goal.
Leandro Trossard was most looking forward to it among the Belgians. With Eden Hazard’s number ten on his back, he pushed past two Ivorians and offered Michy Batshuayi a good shot. However, Batsman’s attempt was blocked.
Michy Batshuayi proved once again that he is not a target man. His bounce work with his back to goal led nowhere. And his sudden foray to take a free kick, cleverly enforced by Trossard, was even worse. The Palace attacker went over too hard.
Vanheusden and Saelemaekers made their debut with varying degrees of success. The Milan player took a dramatic shot from a distance, Vanheusden was able to send Hans Vanaken down the street, but also lost the ball a few times.
The debuting duo did well in the run-up to the goal of the Belgians. Vanheusden served Saelemaekers who separated Batshuayi for purpose. In the box there are few stronger than “Batsman”. In two times he outwitted Sylvain Gbohouo and scored his nineteenth goal in his 31st game for the Red Devils.
The goal would be the highlight of the evening. After the obligatory changes, Ivory Coast was the strongest team. And after a penalty foul by Sebastiaan Bornauw for jersey pull, Milan player Franck Kessié was allowed to score the 1-1. Hendrik Van Crombrugge, who had turned out in his first play with a great save off Pépé, was beaten. The draw puts an end to a series of twelve victories for the Devils. England awaits in the Nations League in an empty Wembley on Saturday.
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