During the matches before the winter break, Genk lost their away game against Charleroi 2:0, drew with Brugge 0:0 at home and won 1:0 at home to Oostende. Watching these games in the stands with the team, he was really fired for a chance to play for the team and to prove his worth.
Watching the loss and the wins he felt truly part of the team spirit. Eager to play he increased his performance during training to earn more points in front of the coaches and put in play which finally worked.
By the beginning of the new year, the winter transfer window was open and the club immediately registered Vincent a Genk player officially. Now a player for the club signed during the transfer window, he could now play for the team in any competition.
***Training Compound**
On the field, Philippe Clement hollered on their poor form recently in their last five games.
"Lets face it, you guys have been sleeping out there. There's no visible determination or zeal to win that I can see in any of you. The wings are sleeping and the defence is lax, only the midfielder is steady but they can't do everything can they?".
"If this continues we'll not be able to play in the Europa league and as we are currently sixth on the table with a 15 point gap with the first, only the cup remains with a slight chance for us. He fumed even more.
"Huhhh.... Tomorrow's line-up for the match comprises of;
Formation: (4-3-3)
GK- Marco Bizot(1)
CB- Jakub Brabec(2)
CB- Sebastien Dewaest(6)
LB- Jere Uronen(21)
RB- Timothy Castagne(41)
CM- Alejandro Pozuelo(24)
LM- Bryan Heynen(28)
RM- Sander Berge(25)
LW- Leandro Trossard(14)
RW- Jose Naránjo(11)
CF- Mbwanna Samatta(77)
Sub: Matthew Ryan, Thomas Buffel, Joseph Aidoo, Ruslan Malinovskyi, Rubin Seigers and Madu Vincent.
"Make sure to get some rest boys," Clement sighed signifying his tiredness.
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Arriving at Luminus Arena, Vincent hurried into the locker room, changed into his jersey and match gear putting away his errant thoughts and nervousness to focus on the match.
He headed out for warm up drills with the team before they headed back to the locker room for a brief tactical meeting which they had practiced at pre-match training yesterday.
After the tactical meeting, Vincent and the bench headed to the team's space by the sidelines with the club staff. The starting line up headed out the tunnel with the away team and arranged themselves in position on the pitch waiting for the sound of the whistle.
At three o'clock in the afternoon on January 10th 2018, the Luminus Arena, which can accommodate more than 25,000 people, is already full of fans shouting in their seats. The fans of the home team are wearing uniforms, holding cheering banners, and shouting Genk's team song.
With the whistle of the referee, the game officially began. Vincent watched the match from the side lines with burning eyes, wondering whether he will get a chance to play today.
He hoped and prayed that the manager looked his way during the match today.
"Good evening, everyone! I'm Josh Braken, your dashing commentator, bringing you live commentary from the first matchup of the jupiler pro league after the winter break". the steady voice of a male commentator could be heard from the loudspeakers.
"With me here, is a former Gent player and legend. He will be my partner here with me, providing real time match analysis. Mr. Jonathan Lanth, can you say hello to our listeners?"
"Good evening, everyone,"
"Nice to have you here, Mr Lanth. Shall we focus on the ongoing game?" Josh said after the pleasantries.
The match got off to a quick start with the Genk side holding possession within their half of the pitch, but somehow the Schalke offence managed to slice through Genk's defence with a quick counter at the weird minute.
The offense was suppressed by Schalke, the connection with the forwards was not enough and the ball was frequently intercepted by the opponent defence.
A poor through pass was released from Uronen to the wing which was intercepted by the defence of SCHALKE and with a quick pass a Schalke midfielder capitalized on his mistake and sent a superb through pass to Glann Sebastian at the edge of the box who with a quick body feint lobbed a pass to Luis Hertwig who trapped the ball, then sent a fine shot at the bottom right corner past Bizot giving his team the lead.
((GOALLLL!!!))
"What a shot from Schalke no. 9," Josh screamed.
"Indeed. A lovely first touch and finishing from Sebastian." Lanth said in agreement.
The home fans were stunned, Phillips Clement was stunned, the team was stunned including Vincent who was brought back from his reverie due to the loud shouting of Clement cautioning and hollering at the players from the bench.
The match quickly kicked off and for more than ten minutes now Genk had kept the ball away from Schalke.
Schalke was playing a four-four-two formation just like they always did, four players in the midfield balanced good for any team, that is if you have four formidable midfielders.
Pozuelo quickly received the ball from Brabec but his path had immediately gotten blocked by two midfielders forcing him to quickly pass the ball to Pozuelo in the left midfield position.
Pozuelo played a through ball to Trossard but a defender had quickly swooshed in from the right to steal the ball before he could get to it.
The abrupt change in play disrupted Genk and their slow transition to defence almost cost them another goal in the with minute.
The ball was passed to RCM of Schalke, who received the ball in midfield with a simple touch. Pulling back his right foot he passed the ball with swift motion to Prius Leugen-the right forward of Schalke who could challenge any defender for pace, a true problem in the wing.
Uronen had blocked his path to stop him from entering the eighteen-yard box, which couldn't stop him as he quickly dashed down to the touchline then made a quick turn before crossing the ball into the middle.
The spinning cross was on target heading for Luis who rose quickly into the air to head the ball but Sebastian rose higher clearing the danger leading to a throw-in for the guests.
(Stunning defence from Sebastian. What do you think Jonathan?) Josh inquired from his partner.
(The Belgian center back has has shown us what he's good at and what he's known for across the league).
Once the ball was thrown into play Bryan quickly intercepted it and kicked int the opponents half.
(((Fweeee))
The whistle blew signalling the end of the first half.