There is a buzz around Aalststadion, as the legendary venue will see its first Belgian Premier League action in almost 70 years. Sportvereniging Red Star Aalst make their top level league debut a week today, giving everyone a date to really look forward to amidst the chaos of the moment. Construction workers are putting the final touches on the stadium, which will start the season with a capacity of around 20,000 seats with room to grow as the season progresses. Meanwhile at the club store, black and red kits, scarves, and flags have become hot ticket items, routinely testing the manufacturers' capacity to keep up with demand.
During a recent interview, Red Star's President Harmanus Maes put words to the feeling of anticipation in the region. "East Flanders has been starved for top-flight football for a very long time" said Maes. "The original FC Aalst was an incredible club, but they are long gone. Now we are here to take up that mantle and try to bring back championship calibre football to Aalststadion. At least in the long term. For this season, the goal is to go out there, grow a strong rapport with the fan base, and see if we can't cause some headaches for the bigger clubs."
Manager Rickard Oberlander stressed that while this is a team new to the BPL, his expectations were always going to remain high. "Yes, we are young and we lack the experience that some of the other sides are going to have" said Oberlander. "But, we can still expect the very best out of our players. We can still outwork our opponents. We can still limit our mistakes. Win or lose, I want everyone to know for certain that we left everything that we could out on the pitch for the full 90 minutes. Anything less is simply not something I am willing to accept."
Red Star Aalst will be playing out of the 5-3-2 formation this year, hoping to remain sound in the back to limit the pressure that will be certainly be coming from more experienced forwards on opposing sides. Despite a reasonable amount of expected rotation, Oberlander's primary lineup is expected to look like this:
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In goal, captain Archibald Friedland will get the majority of the work, with semi-pro veteran Alfred Strasser spelling him on rest days. Hendricus-Jacobus Peeters will take on the anchor role in the back with youngster Wijtze Castro and amateur holdover Aaron Strasser flanking him. On the wings, Berlyn Pasch and Bridge Fisher will be expected to get the ball forward and provide width on both attack and in defence. New signing Templetun Ward joins the established midfield of Adrian-James Castro and Reinoud Verschueren, with Reinoud's fraternal twin brother Sibrant serving as a key substitute. Up front, both Claudie Huntington and Larenzo Kirk will be making their debuts in professional football, and will be expected to be productive as soon as possible.
Friedland has seemingly taken to his new captain role well, and is optimistic about the season. "This obviously isn't a year where we are expecting to challenge for a title" said Friedland. "That doesn't mean, though, that we expect to just roll over and let everyone trounce us. We know that we are capable of stealing some games, grinding out some favourable results, and giving the fans something to cheer about. I think that there is a lot of youth here, and we are hungry to learn and to grow, but also to compete at a higher level than anyone expects of us."
In their first ever BPL match, Red Star Aalst plays host to the revived Lazer Sharx, who return to Aalststadion for the first time since they were battling FC Aalst for league titles those many years ago.