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BEING BELGIAN: It's great no matter what the rest of you think

What a week. Anderlecht humble Athletic Bilbao 4-0, Standard survive in Salzburg to accompany their great Brussels rivals through to the next round of the Europa League, and while Club Bruges exited European competition it took extra time for Valencia to finally get the better of them. All of which is non-news compared to the revelation that Jupiler is sponsoring the stadium hoardings during every game the Dutch national team plays during the World Cup. Picture the swaying Oranje masses, hup hup hupping themselves hoarse behind promotion for Belgium’s breakfast beer of choice. Heineken executives on suicide watch. Delirious InBev suits, who dare to dream. But that is for the summer. This weekend it was back to the humdrum of the Jupiler Pro League. With Standard not playing it was an humungous opportunity for their rivals to knock them out of the running for the play-offs. An opportunity that Kortrijk, Sint-Truiden and Zulte Waregem obviously regarded as too good to be true. In a weekend with only 11 goals scored, all three drew. Bottlers, as John Terry’s mates might label them. More ballsy were Anderlecht who recovered from going a goal down at ‘red lantern’ (bottom club) Roeselare to win 2-1. Results below, table here.

WE’RE STILL STANDING: Match Off

A taste of English football from Brentford devotee The Worm...

The Worm is at a loose end after our fourth postponement of 2010. The Griffin Park pitch is waterlogged and in a sorry state; with water tables still saturated from the December snow, moderate rain becomes an insurmountable problem. Games that do go ahead are leaden-footed, heavy affairs on a churned up surface. Games that don’t are building up. It’s not just us, across the country weekend plans have been disrupted with football fans asking what normal people do with this free-time that gapes before us like the hole between Terry and Carvalho? There has to be more to Saturdays than going to the shops. I am told that Bradford City did not play an away game for five weeks over Christmas (a run of home matches which sadly did not help Stuart McCall keep his job as manager). As for the cabbage patches themselves, Colchester’s Community Stadium and Rotherham’s Don Valley Stadium are probably vying for the worst-pitch-in-football award though I’d be willing to accept nominations from elsewhere. So I get to re-familiarise myself with Jeff Stelling’s loony-crew whilst fighting the onset of cabin fever. We’re at Leeds next week - I hope they had enough money left over from paying Seth Johnson and Robbie Fowler to work on their drainage.

England in Bangladesh: Reasons to care

England playing cricket in Bangladesh is a hard tour to sell and likely to go under the sporting radar for most. Here The Worm offers a few pointers that might make the series worthy of your fleeting attention...

It's the Carling Cup Final Countdown

Stato in Ferguson must hope to avoid 1994 repeat, unless....

Sir Alex Ferguson has an eye for the statistics, there’s nae doubt about that. The canny Scot has recently said that a 19th League title is “in his soul” and has repeatedly urged his United charges to build on what he has long regarded as a European Cup record ill-befitting a club of United’s stature. So, as he tinkers with his prospective team-sheet today and considers giving in to the urge to play Welbeck, Macheda and their fledgling chums he may just want to consider that, to knock Liverpool right off their perch, United not only need to win another League and a further 3 Champions Leagues but also need to add 5 League Cups to their brimming trophy cabinet. He will probably err on the side then of naming Rooney, Scholes and experienced pro pals to avoid a repeat of 1994’s 3-1 humbling at the hands of Ron Atkinson’s Villa. Unless of course he believes in omens. In 1994 United recovered from Coca-Cola Cup defeat to notch up a league and cup double. What he wouldn’t give for a repeat performance in 2010.
 
Stat Attack:

Belgian soccer: the Beergian League!

In the first of what he drunkenly promises will be an ongoing series of roundups of the weekend action in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, Charles le Roi looks at the return to domestic action after a heady cocktail of midweek European fixtures.

As a Maes drinker, the Jupiler Pro League sometimes makes painful viewing. It might require beer goggles to suggest that, in the 70s, 80s and 90s, the Belgian league was providing spectacle (champagne football if you allow me to mix my drinks) to compare with the finest in Europe, but no fewer than five teams - Anderlecht, Club Bruges, Standard Liège, KV Mechelen, and Royal Antwerp - graced European finals during that period. Since then it has been a practical drought and we have been reduced to quaffing Jupiler (les hommes savent pourquoi ™).

So it was with renewed optimism that we entered Round 27 after midweek exploits against some of Spain's and, ahem, Austria's finest. Club Bruges kept David Villa and Valencia at bay, recording a 1-0 win in Jan Breydel. Anderlecht gave as good as they got both on and off the pitch in a 1-1 battle at ‘La Catedral’ in Bilbao, while Standard came from behind to snatch a 3-2 victory from Salzburg at Stade Sclessin.

Given until Sunday to recover from their Europa League heroics, the big three literally topped the bill. Anderlecht, seemingly sauntering to title number 30, had a relative “makkie” (gimme) at home to KV Mechelen. All eyes were, therefore, on Jan Breydel where a resurgent Club Bruges took on a faltering Standard de Liege. Champions for the last two years, Liege have disappeared up their own behinds this term to lie fifth at an unusually crucial point of the season.

This season the top six break away in late March to decide the title and to serve the public the fresh hops of the Jupiler League play-offs 1, leaving the rest to fester in the putrid vat of Jupiler play-offs 2, or worse the play-off for Division 2. In fifth place, with more games played than their nearest rivals, Standard entered the weekend in grave risk of two months of festering. How would they leave it? Results and play-offs explanation below...