[ad_1]
Hour by hour is easier. AZ, Dynamo’s rival in the third qualifying round of the league championship, looks more complicated than the team the Kiev fans will have to fight in the Champions League playoffs. With all due respect to Ghent, it should be noted that, however, this team is now inferior to both the vice-champion of the Netherlands and the second-team Ukraine in terms of artist selection and budget. So let’s be frank: we were lucky with the draw, because the current “Gent” is not at least stronger than “Brugge” and “Ajax”, the teams that in the last two seasons have not allowed the Dynamo to enter the main tournament. continental. However, the inhabitants of Kiev should not underestimate the buffalo either (this is the nickname of the Belgian vice-champion): the Young Boys have been tried.
It is well known and disassembled under a microscope: “Gent” is the most Ukrainian team in Belgium, because it includes three Ukrainians at once: Roman Yaremchuk, Roman Bezus and Igor Plastun. This shade is already so worn out that it hardly needs to be repeated one more time. Let’s take note of that.
Otherwise, “Gent” is by no means the Lord of the Rings.
***
The last season was successful for Gent. Yes, it could have gotten even steeper: Jess Torup’s team confidently held second place in the national championship, and before dividing the teams into two groups (the championship formula in Belgium is very similar to last season of the Ukrainian championship) even had hypothetical chances to catch up with the leader Bruges. And in terms of goals scored, Gent was in first place: 59 goals. But the coronavirus intervened, and the round prior to the division of teams into ranks, the Belgian championship ended with liquid exclamations of discontent. “Gold” was awarded to “Bruges”, Belgium’s most Ukrainian team got “silver” and a ticket to the Champions League qualification.
The current European Cup campaign is the sixth in a row for the Buffaloes. It is true that they were not very successful at the European level. Last season was a pleasant surprise, in which Gent not only reached the group stage of the Europa League, but also won the group, having won a ticket to the 1/16 finals beforehand. It’s true that the Buffaloes lost on aggregate to Roma there. That Euroseason is also remembered for the fact that “Gent” was in the same group as our “Alexandria”. In the Lviv Arena, the rivals were separated in peace – 1: 1, but in the halls of Ghent Torup won 2: 1.
Ghent FC
But the confrontation with Oleksandriya, Ghent’s relationship with the Ukrainian clubs is not limited. The Buffaloes met the Dynamo in the 2010 Champions League qualifier, and lost without a chance: 0: 3 and 1: 3. There are still more unpleasant memories for Gent of their encounter in the European group stage. League with Shakhtar in 2016: two important defeats by 0-5 and 3-5.
VIDEO. Shevchenko, Yarmolenko and Zozulya. How Dinamo destroyed Ghent 10 years ago
Ghent’s main achievement in European competition was the team’s arrival in the Champions League playoffs in the 2015/2016 season. Then the “buffalo” occupied second place in the group, ahead of fighters as strong as “Lyon” and “Valencia”. But in the knockout stages of the Champions League, the Ghent fairy tale ended: the Belgian champions on aggregate lost to Wolfsburg. Although if you remember even earlier times, then in 1992 “Gent” made it to the quarterfinals of the now defunct UEFA Cup.
By the way, the 2015 championship remains the only one for Ghent. Interestingly, that season, Belgium’s “regular” championship, “Gent” finished in second place, losing to “Brugge”. But luckily for the buffalo, it was in the 2014/2015 season that a new formula for the championship was introduced in Belgium: after the teams completed two laps, they split into two interest groups. This allowed Ghent to overtake Brugge at the final qualifying table.
***
Although to surpass Bruges on the all-time record, as well as two other soccer giants there: Anderlecht and Standard, Ghent doesn’t have the slightest chance. Because the three clubs mentioned have more serious achievements and more serious budgets. For example, the annual treasury of the Ghent club is twice that of Standard and three times that of Club Brugge and Anderlecht. Roman Yaremchuk, our plenipotentiary representative in Ghent, said in one of his interviews that the salaries of his current team are the smallest of the Belgian top six clubs. According to him, 500-600 thousand euros a year is a ceiling for Ghent, while in Bruges and Anderlecht the leaders receive one and a half million euros a year. However, according to Roman, Gent is still not only a self-sufficient club, but also makes a profit. Unlike the same “Anderlecht” and “Brugge”. And this despite the fact that these two clubs have many shareholders, while Gent operates at the expense of the club’s president, Ivan de Witte.
The club’s main source of income is the sale of its “liquid” to wealthier teams. In the summer off-season, “Gent” cut more than thirty million euros (to be precise, thirty-two) in the sale of a single player, our Yaremchuk’s partner in the attack of Canada’s Davis, which amounted to “Lille”. In addition to Jonathan, Gent sold goalkeeper Kaminski to Blackburn and defender Lustig to AEK. The proceeds went not only to the salaries of the players and staff, but also to the acquisition of new artists. According to the Belgian press, Gent has been quite active in the transfer market in the last offseason, leaving more than ten million euros there. For a single Fortune defender, “Gent” paid “Charleroi” six million. This is a record for the club. By the way, 32 million for Davis is a sales record not only for Ghent, but for the entire Belgian championship.
***
Despite the fact that Gent lost one of their two “tag” leaders (the second, Roman Yaremchuk) during the summer “holidays”, the team’s game in attack did not appear to worsen. Also, Gent has gotten stronger compared to the previous season. Paradox? Perhaps, but in Belgium they say that in the new season Gent will really be able to compete for the champion crown.
And then it was like snow on his head: two opening losses in the Jupile League. The club’s management found the head coach to be the culprit in the fiasco, and Torup was immediately fired. The Dane was replaced by Romanian Laszlo Boloni, who previously ran Antwerp. But the 67-year-old former coach of the Romanian national team did not succeed in becoming his in “Ghent”. Right off the bat, he began to rebuild the team’s game, focusing primarily on defense. The restructuring did not please the team leaders. First of all, Yaremchuk, who publicly criticized the coach and asked to leave. In this conflict, it was not the footballer who was extreme, but the coach. Roman was supported not only by members, but also by the club president. And Boloni was forced to leave the team without having been in charge for a month.
Twitter Ghent
Ghent’s new mentor, former Bolognese assistant De Dekker, has received a lot of inheritance. The team lost four games out of a possible five, and is currently only 16th in the championship: how far behind the first, where the “buffalo” were courted before the start of the season.
However, all these “Gent” mistakes and misunderstandings can be crossed out at once. To do this, you don’t need “nothing at all”: enter the group stage of the Champions League. The first step on this path has already been taken: in the third qualifying round, the Buffaloes defeated Rapid of Austria by 2: 1. One of the goals of that game was scored by Yaremchuk, who returned to the main squad with a new coach. By the way, after the passage of “Rapid” De Dekker may feel more or less calm: they no longer see him as a temporary worker. And if Gent also makes the Champions League playoffs, Boloni’s 38-year-old former assistant will likely remain the Buffaloes’ helmsman for a long time.
If you find an error, select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
[ad_2]
