Jaguar and Old Club Pull Off the Cup Shocks as Léopold Edge Dragons
The Belgian Cup does this every year, and it did it again on Wednesday. Two of the biggest names in the men’s game went out to clubs from the lower divisions, and the quarter-final draw now has a third-division side dreaming of Léopold.
Le Jaguar, who play in Nationale 3, beat Leuven 5-3. That’s not a typo. The Perwez club started with a four-goal head start, the way the cup handicaps work for lower-division sides, but they still had to earn it. Leuven pulled two back from penalty corners and the place was rocking, then Simon Beckaert made it 5-2 and Jaguar shut the door. Their president, Thierry Debroux, called it a performance that will go down in the club’s history, and he’s not wrong. Jaguar sit third in Nationale 3, chasing promotion, and most of the side came back through the club’s own youth ranks after spells away. Coach Marcello Orlando has them believing. It cost them, though. Nino Gauthier broke a hand, and one player took a stick to the mouth and only got away with it because he was wearing a mouthguard.
If that was the shock of the night, Old Club’s win over Racing wasn’t far behind. The Liège side, a division below the top flight, beat Racing 4-3 with a two-goal start, and they did it the hard way. Racing threw ten penalty corners at them and cut it from 3-0 to 3-2 in the third quarter. That’s when goalkeeper Juan Diaz took over, pulling off save after save while Tom Dawance held the midfield together. Dante Croquey and Sentsi Binaghi got the goals that mattered. Racing’s Dorian Thiéry didn’t hide from it afterwards, saying his side were too soft defensively and couldn’t score from open play. The league stays their priority, he added, which is what beaten favourites always say. It doesn’t make the result any smaller.
The big clubs that did survive had to work for it too. Léopold, top of the league, went to Dragons and won 3-2 in Brasschaat. That’s a proper cup tie won away from home against a fellow top-flight side, and it keeps the leaders’ season ticking along nicely. Daring needed a shootout to get past Antwerp, 4-4 after normal time and 3-1 on shootouts. Holders Gantoise were the only favourites who made it look easy, winning 9-3 at Indiana, while Uccle Sport won 6-4 away at Louvain-la-Neuve.
The other ties, and what the quarters look like
Mechelse edged past Lara 4-3 after wiping out Lara’s two-goal head start and scoring twice more, and Embourg beat Parc 4-2 to put a second Liège club into the last eight. So the quarter-finals, played on Sunday 22 November, look like this: Jaguar host Mechelse with another four-goal start, Embourg host Léopold with the same advantage, Daring face Uccle Sport in an all-top-flight tie, and Gantoise go to Old Club, who start two goals up.
Four top-flight clubs are left, and on Wednesday’s evidence none of them can take anything for granted. Jaguar get Mechelse at home with four goals in hand, and after beating Leuven they’ll fancy another one. Old Club get the holders at home with two goals in hand. That’s the cup doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.
The league takes over again first. Léopold go to champions Waterloo Ducks on Sunday in the game of the weekend, and after a cup night like that, nobody in Belgium will be writing anyone off.
Dr. Oetker Cup men, 1/8 finals, Wednesday 11 November: Le Jaguar 5-3 Leuven; Lara 3-4 Mechelse; Embourg 4-2 Parc; Dragons 2-3 Léopold; Antwerp 4-4 Daring (Daring won shootout 3-1); Louvain-la-Neuve 4-6 Uccle Sport; Indiana 3-9 Gantoise; Old Club 4-3 Racing. Scores include the cup handicap for lower-division sides. Quarter-finals: Sunday 22 November.
