Belgian League Matchday 10: Champions Waterloo Ducks Host Leaders Leopold in the Game of the Weekend
The champions got humbled last Sunday. Now they get the league leaders.
Waterloo Ducks host Leopold on Sunday in the standout game of Belgian matchday 10, and they come into it smarting. Orée beat them 5-0 last weekend, a result nobody saw coming against the defending champions, and the Ducks have slipped to fourth on 16 points. Leopold, meanwhile, sit top on 20, level with Braxgata but ahead on goal difference, and they’ve lost once all season.
It’s a proper test of what the Ducks are made of. Champions don’t usually lose 5-0 and then roll over. But Leopold are the real deal this season, and a second defeat in a row would leave Waterloo four points off the top with the season not yet halfway done. For our money, the Ducks at home, angry, are still the hardest game in Belgium. Leopold will have to earn this one.
Braxgata are the other side of the title race, and they travel to Uccle Sport on Sunday. Braxgata are also on 20 points, and they’ve scored 27 goals in nine games, more than anyone except Herakles and Gantoise. Uccle are sixth on 15, only five behind, and they’ve got plenty to play for themselves. A home win drags them right into the top-four fight.
Herakles are third on 16, and they host Racing, who are eighth on 10 points. Herakles have scored 28 goals this season, joint most in the league, and Racing’s defence has been leaky enough to worry about that. Gantoise, fifth on 15, go to Dragons, who are tenth on eight points and staring at the relegation play-off places. Gantoise have the firepower to make that a long afternoon for the home side.
At the bottom, it’s a straight shootout between the two promoted sides. Daring host Namur, 11th against 12th, five points against three. Daring have conceded 38 goals in nine games. Namur have conceded 36. Something has to give, and the loser will be cut adrift at the foot of the table.
Orée, the side who produced the shock of last weekend, go to Beerschot. Orée are seventh on 11 points with five draws from nine, the hardest side in the league to beat and one of the hardest to get a result against. Beerschot are ninth on nine points and need the win more.
All six games are on Sunday 15 November. The Ducks against Leopold is the one that decides whether this title race has two teams in it or four.
Matchday 10 fixtures, Sunday 15 November: Beerschot v Orée; Daring v Namur; Dragons v Gantoise; Herakles v Racing; Uccle Sport v Braxgata; Waterloo Ducks v Léopold.
