Vandenbempt: “What a soup! Imagine that we start the play-offs without a stand” | Jupiler Pro League

Anderlecht made it to the Champions’ Play-off with a win against Kortrijk, but it was far too difficult. Much harder than it should be for a team that was only so good a week ago.

There are of course a few excuses: it was a very bad field, a razor-sharp opponent and – contrary to what they had said before – there was a lot of pressure. Just look at the discharge afterwards.

But even then it was shown in Kortrijk what too often the problem was for Anderlecht this season. If it doesn’t run well, it drops through a lower bound. The big difference between really good and really bad shouldn’t be allowed this late in the season.

If Kortrijk finishes better in the first half or if Van Crombrugge is not at his high level, Anderlecht will have a huge hangover one week before that cup final.

It was striking how sloppy Anderlecht were with the ball in that first half, how vulnerable with just about every deep ball.

But Anderlecht did make it and that is well deserved to be clear. The players and the coach have gone through a great evolution. Just look at the numbers: more points, more goals scored, more matches won…

And it certainly shows in the quality of the football and the variety in the game. So hats off.

Be sure that Anderlecht will start the play-offs with ambition, with a view to the Champions League also a bit, I think. It wants at least second place.

Doing better than last year is also now the ambition to be in the top four. Last season they often played good games, but did not win once in those play-offs, so there is still a lot of room for improvement.

AA Gent beat Leuven 5-0, but has been sentenced to the Europe Play-off. That is sour, because Ghent would always be an asset in the top four on the basis of the qualities it has in its player core and the game delivered. Play-off I will miss players like Tissoudali and Odjidja.

And it’s especially sour because of the way it went a week ago. That totally unacceptable, hallucinatory situation where the match against Cercle Brugge starts with a camera, which is nevertheless crucial for the assessment of offside situations by the VAR, which is not manned.

Cercle Brugge then scores from offside, which makes you unwell and not only as a supporter of AA Gent.

And it is incomprehensible that not one person responsible for the organization of a professional football match at this crucial stage of the competition – where millions are at stake for the clubs – says “Hola, that is not possible, has everyone taken their position?”.

They can now decide among themselves who is the main culprit. But there would be no conclusive agreement between the TV partner providing the capture and the person responsible for the VAR that the images can be invoked at all times. If that’s true, then that’s not professional. Then that is an unforgivable, grave mistake.

So I wonder: how many times has this actually happened without us knowing it? I assume it has been resolved in the meantime so that it never happens again with a view to the play-offs.

And I do know: AA Gent has thrown it away itself – Vanhaezebrouck himself also said that – because of all those missed opportunities and the lack of efficiency. But it’s still a painful way, because it could have been done.

Unfortunately, football was again marred by incidents on the final day. The match between Union and Beerschot was stopped at a 0-0 score, because Beerschot supporters caused serious incidents.

That’s unbelievable actually. Precisely in the Union stadium, where football has for the full 100 percent retained its family character and its casual conviviality.

That miscreants of Beerschot then start to play the hooligan – again – is tragic for football and for the club. A year ago, Beerschot was embraced by Belgian football upon his return as a fresh sound, a spectacular team.

But this year they showed their ugliest side, on the pitch and more off it. In a statement, the club has already responded strongly and well, but it must go further: those supporters are never allowed in again.

The question now is: what now? We are left with an unfinished competitive position. It was 0-0 with 7 minutes and some added time to play.

Union coach Felice Mazzu referred to Standard-Charleroi, a match that was also stopped after riots with Standard supporters and after which Charleroi got a fortfait victory. But that is not entirely true, because there it was already 0-3 for Charleroi. They would have won that game anyway.

And just giving three points to Union, so two points extra and one point after the halving in the play-offs, is not sportingly correct compared to the competitors in the Champions’ Play-off.

Coming back at the weekend to play those 7 minutes is against Union again. Those are not the same 7 minutes as at the end of the match, where you are in the flow.

The competition will also ask themselves: has the procedure been followed correctly? It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s now said it was a police decision. I still remember the derby from 2.5 years ago between STVV and Genk: there it was first 0-3 for Genk and then it became 3-3. That match was halted by police order after rioting. Or so it was said.

But at the hearings before the Disputes Committee, the police denied that and it turned out that the procedure was not followed by the referee and the match delegate. The match could therefore not be replayed based on the rules, so the result was kept.

If that’s the case here, then that’s not fair to Union. What a soup again, what a hassle again. I wonder how we’ll get out of that. There is a rush, because imagine that we start the play-offs with no standings. That would be something for Belgian football.