Belgium late show finishes Armenia
Wednesday 17 October 2007-

Three second-half goals earned Belgium victory against
Armenia, but their UEFA EURO 2008′ qualification hopes
were ended by results elsewhere in Group A.

Triple strike
Substitute Wesley Sonck put Belgium ahead on 63
minutes before Moussa Dembélé doubled the advantage
six minutes later. Karel Geraerts added a third on 76
minutes to secure Belgium’s fourth win in qualifying
but they are now unable to overhaul second-placed
Portugal after their 2-1 success in Kazakhstan.

Armenia bright
Armenia had started promisingly, with Artavazd
Karamyan drawing a save from Belgium goalkeeper Stijn
Stijnen from the edge of the area. Belgium too had
chances and Gevorg Kasparov spread himself to stop
Kevin Mirallas’s effort when the 20-year-old striker
was played through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Artur Voskanyan was next to test Stijnen, who turned
the ball behind for a corner.

Inspired substitution
Belgium coach René Vandereycken replaced Mirallas with
Sonck at the interval as he looked for more from his
side, but it was Armenia that pressed. Samvel
Melkonyan and Levon Pachajyan each came close before
Melkonyan cut in from the left and shot into the
side-netting. The breakthrough, though, went to
Belgium on 63 minutes. Nicolas Lombaerts’s left-wing
cross found Bart Goor who hit the crossbar on the
volley. The ball looped into the air and Sonck beat
Kasparov to the rebound to nod in.

Further goals
Belgium were soon 2-0 up after Dembélé burst into the
penalty box before firing into the top corner. The
third goal followed 14 minutes from time when another
Lombaerts centre reached Geraerts on the penalty spot
and he headed the ball down and beyond Kasparov to
ensure a comfortable finish for the hosts.

©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved.