ARMENIA DEFEATS BELGIUM 2-1

armradio.am
10.09.2009 12:15

Armenia grabbed their first win in Group 5 of European Zone qualifying
for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, goals from Hovhannes Goharyan
and Sargis Hovsepyan seeing off Belgium.

Prior to this game in Yerevan, Armenia had only taken one point from
seven previous matches in the pool and still remain a point behind
Estonia in the fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

According to the FIFA official website, Belgium made the better
start, and Standard Liege forward Igor de Camargo was the first to
go close before the hosts carved out their first opportunity in the
17th minute. Goharyan played in Arman Karamyan, who advanced through
on Jean-Francois Gillet, and the goalkeeper did enough to turn his
close-range effort on to the post.

The chance gave Armenia confidence and BATE Borisov forward Goharyan
put them in front six minutes later, when he fired in a rebound after
Gillet had parried Henrykh Mkhitaryan’s shot.

The home team could have added a second before the break, with captain
Hovsepyan missing the best of the chances they created between scoring
the opener and the half-time whistle blowing. Pyunik player Hovsepyan
made amends in style by doubling Armenia’s lead five minutes into
the second period.

Belgium finally stepped up their efforts but Van Buyten and Tom de
Sutter missed good opportunities to halve the deficit. Gevorg Kasparov
did brilliantly to save a close-range header from De Camargo in the
86th minute before Van Buyten scored right at the death, too late to
rescue even a point.

Franky Vercauteren quit as Belgium coach following his team’s 2-1
defeat to Armenia which ended their hopes of reaching the 2010 FIFA
World Cup South Africa finals.