A Tense, Goalless Battle for Almost the Entire Night
For 90 minutes and then some, this one refused to give anyone a goal. Sint-Truidense and Omonia played out a tight, cagey first leg at Staaien, with both sides generating half-chances but neither finding a way through. Senou Coulibaly had Omonia’s best sight of goal in the first half, heading a Ewandro cross toward the bottom corner only for keeper Leo Kokubo to get down well and save it. At the other end, Nelson Ishiwatari and Arbnor Muja both tried their luck from outside the box for the home side without troubling Omonia’s goal seriously.
The game stayed feisty throughout, with bookings picked up on both sides — Robert-Jan Vanwesemael for Sint-Truidense, Jean-Kevin Duverne and later Ewandro for Omonia — as both teams made a string of substitutions trying to find the breakthrough that kept eluding them. Chances came and went. Visar Musliu headed over from a corner, Ewandro fired wide from the right after being teed up by Loïs Diony, and it genuinely looked like this Europa League play-off first leg was destined to finish level.
Taniguchi Delivers in the Fourth Minute of Stoppage Time
It very nearly did. Deep into second-half stoppage time, with the board showing just a single added minute originally before being extended, Sint-Truidense finally got their moment. In the 90+4th minute, Shogo Taniguchi found the net to snatch a 1-0 lead in the very last kick of the game, sending Staaien into celebration and leaving Omonia stunned after holding firm for so long.
What It Means Next
It’s about as cruel a way as possible for Omonia to fall behind in a tie they’d matched Sint-Truidense in for almost the entirety of normal time. Henning Berg’s side, who finished last season as Cypriot champions and reached the Conference League knockout play-offs, now have work to do in the second leg to keep their European ambitions alive this season. For Sint-Truidense, a stoppage-time winner of this kind is exactly the sort of moment that can define a European tie, and they’ll carry a precious lead into the return fixture.
Match Summary
Sint-Truidense 1-0 Omonia UEFA Europa League, Play-offs, 1st Leg — Staaien, Sint-Truiden, Belgium Thursday, 20 August 2026
Goal: 90+4′ Shogo Taniguchi (Sint-Truidense) 1-0
Result: Sint-Truidense snatch a stoppage-time winner to take a slender 1-0 lead into the second leg against Omonia.
For live Europa League qualifying scores and coverage, visit fawanews. Full results and bracket at the official UEFA Europa League website.
