Kortrijk escapes unscathed: after 120 minutes Kadri ensures a win against Dender with a brilliant panenka | Croky Cup 2023/2024

Goals:
11′ Rajsel 1-0
29′ Kadri 1-1

KV Kortrijk could miss a cup drama like a toothache.

Under Glen de Boeck, after a year full of misery, the atmosphere of crisis finally seems to be shaking off somewhat, but a cup defeat against second division Dender would still be a big step back for the West Flemish team.

And yes, after 10 minutes Kana immediately caused headaches for Kortrijk. The 21-year-old midfielder committed a juvenile sin and gave Dender the 1-0 after 10 minutes.

It won’t happen, will it?

Kortrijk continued to fumble in the initial phase, but saw Dender make individual mistakes as the first half progressed. First, Pupe caused a penalty, which turned out to be a piece of cake for Kadri (1-1). And afterwards a far too eager Masangu ruled himself out with a second yellow card.

A double downer for Dender, who licked their wounds after the break, but Kortrijk – which forgot to score and played unimaginative football – actually forced extra time and even penalties.

But there Dender saw all his hard work undone. After a double miss, the decision was once again at the feet of Kadri, who proved himself to be the ultimate ice rabbit. With a brilliant panenka he averted an impending fiasco for Kortrijk.

Glen De Boeck (trainer Kortrijk): “We should have decided the match much earlier. We should never just give away the 1-0, so we had to immediately run after the facts. Such mistakes have to be corrected by Kana. He realizes that himself, but I don’t like him – like at Anderlecht – takes risks around his own large rectangle. We then lacked some sharpness and luck to break Dender’s defensive position. Fortunately, in the absolute final, we could still count on a very strong Vandenberghe. And I was shocked. in the way (mat a panenka, ed.) in which Kadri finally finished it? No, those are players’ decisions. He is doing brilliantly, right? We have to remember the qualification and focus our attention on RWDM. Hopefully we recover well.”

Timmy Simons (trainer Dender): “From the first minute, my men gave everything. It’s great how we completed the match with 10 and at the end even created the best chances to finish it off. I also don’t understand why they did that handball and the ball behind the I didn’t see the line. That was clearly visible on the video footage. Anyway, you saw that Kortrijk has a lot of individual class. It remains impressive what we achieved with 10. I saw a lot of fighting spirit, chapeau. It’s a pity that we missed the climax in the penalty shootout.”