BELGIUM 3 ARMENIA 0
Sportinglife.com, UK
Oct 17 2007
Two goals in five second-half minutes earned Belgium victory over
Armenia, but their Euro 2008 Group A qualification hopes were ended
by results elsewhere.
Substitute Wesley Sonck put Belgium ahead before Moussa Dembele
doubled the advantage.
Karel Geraerts added a third to hand Belgium their fourth win in
qualifying, but they are now unable to overhaul second-placed Portugal,
who won 2-1 in Kazakhstan.
Armenia started promisingly and went close early in the first half.
Artavazd Karamyan led a counter attack from Armenia and hit a left-foot
shot from the left edge of the penalty box which Belgium goalkeeper
Stijn Stijnen was forced to parry.
Gevorg Kasparov spread himself to save Kevin Mirallas’ right-foot
shot from eight yards when the 20-year-old striker was played through
one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Artur Voskanyan shot right footed from the edge of the box but Stijnen
turned the ball behind for a corner.
Belgium coach Rene Vandereycken replaced Mirallas with Sonck at the
interval as he sought a breakthrough.
But the hosts were put under pressure early in the second half.
Samvel Melkonyan and Levon Pachajyan each shot off target for Armenia.
Melkonyan then cut in from the left flank only to shoot into the side
netting at the near post.
But it was Belgium who broke the deadlock when Nicolas Lombaerts
launched a cross into the box from the left. The ball fell for Bart
Goor who hit the bar with a right-foot volley from 10 yards.
The ball then looped up into the air and Sonck beat Kasparov to head
in from close range.
Belgium scored again when Dembele burst into the penalty area with
a direct run before firing a clinical left foot shot from the left
side of the six-yard box across goal into the top right corner.
Belgium scored again when Lombaerts’ left-wing cross found Karel
Geraerts on the penalty spot and he headed the ball into the ground
before it bounced beyond Kasparov after 76 minutes as Belgium claimed
a comfortable win.
Teams:
Belgium Stijnen, Lombaerts (Vertonghen 83),Van Buyten (Kompany 60),
Simons, Swerts, Defour, Fellaini,Goor, Geraerts, Dembele, Mirallas
(Sonck 46).
Subs Not Used: Proto, Gillet, De Man, Sterchele.
Booked: Swerts.
Goals: Sonck 63, Dembele 69, Geraerts 76.
Armenia Kasparov, Tadevosyan (Lazarian 82), Hovsepyan,Arzumanyan,
Dokhoyan, Arakelian, Khachatryan (Hakobyan 57),Pachajyan, Voskanyan,
Melkonyan (Zebelian 70), Karamyan.
Subs Not Used: Azizyan, Melikyan, Minasian, Minasyan.
Att: 14,812
Ref: Johannes Valgeirsson (Iceland).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
