Belgium up and running against Cyprus
Monday, March 25, 2013
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Belgium 2-0 Cyprus
Goals at the start of either half from Paul-José Mpoku and Maxime Lestienne, the latter a penalty, earned the home side a comfortable win.
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Belgium made a solid start to 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying after goals at the beginning of each half at home to Group 9 rivals Cyprus.
Any latecomers among the 4,000 spectators in Leuven were punished as Paul-José Mpoku broke the deadlock inside three minutes, firing in from the edge of the area. The hosts allowed them a little more time to find their seats in the second period, eight minutes passing before Maxime Lestienne converted from the spot after Nikos Englezou had brought down Mpoku.
Club Brugge KV midfielder Lestienne had been the scourge of Cyprus from the off, setting up the opener and rattling the crossbar on 19 minutes, yet Belgium got little tangible reward for their dominance. Cyprus had goalkeeper Zannettos Mytidis to thank as he stood up well to deny Igor Vetekele, Dennis Praet, Lestienne and substitute Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco.