Thanks to Tsuyoshi Watanabe (59th), Kortrijk went on to win 0-1 at Seraing on Sunday in the match of the 2nd day of the Jupiler Pro League. The two teams finished at ten: at the Kerels, Amine Benchaib received the red in the 26th minute and in the other camp, Marvin Tshibuabua was excluded in the 87th. In the standings, Kortrijk has three points like Antwerp, Zulte Waregem, Genk, Charleroi, Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Westerlo, Eupen, Ostend and Cercle. Seraing has his counter blocked at zero just like Mechelen, the only teams in this case, but Seraing is the only one not to have scored in 180 minutes of play. Among the Steelworkers, Abdoulaye Sylla took the place of Morgan Poaty in defense, the newcomer Leroy Abanda was preferred over Sami Lahssaini in midfield and Simon Elisor was preferred over Marius to form the attacking duo with Antoine Bernier. In Kortrijk Karim Belhocine started Dorian Dessoleil directly in the absence of Aleksandar Radovanovic, whose transfer to Legia Warsaw fell through.
If Kortrijk gave the illusion at the start of the game thanks to a clever attempt by Billel Messaoudi repelled with a corner kick by Guillaume Dietsch (4th), Seraing was the better team and created a lot of chances. On the other hand, the Steelworkers failed to score: Sergio Conceiçao sent the ball to the post (14th) and Elisor missed the conversion of a penalty awarded by Jonathan Lardot, following the intervention of the VAR, for a foul committed on him by Dessoleil (20th). While they found themselves in numerical superiority following the exclusion of Benchaib for a foul on the Seresian French midfielder Sambou Sissoko (26th), the Steelworkers still harvested opportunities in particular by Bernier, who did not complete a nice solo (36th).
After the break, the Kerels, with the Malian defender Sambou Sissoko in place of Alexandre De Bruyne, came out of their starting blocks better and a shot from Habib Keita was diverted for a corner by Tshibuabua (48th). Seraing reacted but Sissoko forgot to score (50th). On the other side, Watanabe did not shake when the ball landed in his feet on a free kick from Kristof D’Haene (59th, 0-1).
José Jeunechamps, who felt obliged to try something, took out a back, Sandro Tremoulet, for an attacker, Marius (62nd). But this blow did not improve the efficiency of the Liégeois: Elisor (67th, 82nd), Sissoko (68th, 78th) and the Conceiçao-Tshibuabua duo failed to surprise Ilic (78th).
