Football News – Oostende – Royal Excel Mouscron
KV Oostende hosts Royal Excel Mouscron in a match from the first round of the Belgian First Division A. The game is going to be played on Sunday night at the Versluys Arena in Oostende.
These two teams ended their last campaigns in the league in a very different way. Oostende played very good during the regular season and finished at 5th place in the standings. During the play-offs they won the right to fight for a place in the Europa League. In the play-off game they faced Genk and won the match with 3-1, qualifying for Europe.
Oostende’s European campaign this season didn’t start too well. In a first game from the 3rd qualifying round of the Europe League, the Belgian team lost with 2-4 against the French giants Olympique Marseille. They still have chances to qualify, but it will be really difficult to do so after this result at the Stade Velodrome.
Whatever happens against Marseille, Oostende will try to at least repeat their performance in the First Division A from the last season. Reaching European competitions is the goal ahead of them, so let’s see how they will start the new season.
We could expect that Oostende will rest some of their most important players for the rematch against Marseille after few days. They still have chances to qualify for the next round, so we can’t expect that they will give up after the result in France.
As for Royal Excel Mouscron, last season they barely avoided relegation. And this season this is going to be their main goal again – to keep their place in the elite division. It won’t be easy for them, because they don’t have the class to feel calm about their future. They will have to fight really hard for their survival.