Merelbeke vs Gent

Playing in sweltering conditions with temperatures exceeding 30°C, Gent came flying out of the blocks. The breakthrough arrived in the sixth minute when a foul on Kanga inside the area gave the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Kanga stepped up and converted coolly.

Two minutes later, Tiago Araújo delivered a sharp cross from the left flank and Kanga was in the right place to tap in his second of the evening. Merelbeke were still reeling when Hyllarion Goore danced to the byline and pulled back for Atsuki Ito, who cut inside and finished calmly to make it 0–3 after just 15 minutes.

Gent continued to push. Kanga came close to a first-half hat-trick but saw his effort from a tight angle cannon back off the post, leaving the score at 0–3 going into the interval.

Gent head coach Rik De Mil made ten changes at half-time, keeping only goalkeeper Kjell Peersman on the pitch. The reshuffled side took time to settle, and Merelbeke capitalised when Raza Diallo shrugged off Hugo Gambor and slotted past Peersman to make it 1–3 in the 56th minute.

Gent regained control as Momodou Sonko became increasingly influential on the flank. With 80 minutes on the clock, Abdelkahar Kadri saw a fierce drive thump against the post, but Max Dean was alert to tuck away the rebound.

Sonko got the goal his performance deserved in the 86th minute, meeting Michal Skóras's excellent cross to make it 1–5. Deep into stoppage time, Kadri added the sixth with a stunning strike into the top corner from outside the box.

Kanga's early double — a composed penalty followed by a predatory finish from Araújo's cross — set the tone for the evening. He also struck the post chasing a hat-trick and led the line effectively before being withdrawn at half-time.

Kanga's sixth-minute penalty. It broke Merelbeke's early resistance and triggered a three-goal blitz inside 15 minutes that effectively ended the contest before the half-hour mark.

Gent first half: Peersman (GK); Diallo, Burgess (C), Volckaert, De Vlieger; Araújo, El Âdfaoui, Delorge; Ito, Goore, Kanga.

Gent second half: Peersman (GK) (Evers 65'); Van der Heyden (C), Asselman, Gambor; Sonko, Lopes, Skóras, Kadri; Omgba, Cissé; Dean.

This was the first pre-season friendly for KAA Gent under Rik De Mil's summer programme. New signing Christian Burgess — a centre-back recruited in the close season — made his debut in the first-half XI. Merelbeke, who finished 11th in Belgium's Eerste Nationale (third tier) in 2025/26, proved game opponents after the break but could not contain Gent's superior quality.

Gent's next pre-season fixture is scheduled for Saturday 4 July against AZ Alkmaar, a significant step-up in opposition as preparations continue for the 2026/27 Pro League campaign and their UEFA Conference League second qualifying round tie against LNZ Cherkasy.

Pre-season friendlies carry obvious caveats — both sides used entirely different elevens across the two halves, and fitness work took priority over result. However, Gent's attacking potency in the first 15 minutes, driven by Kanga's physical presence and Ito's mobility, hints at tactical patterns worth monitoring when competitive fixtures resume. The depth shown by second-half scorers Dean, Sonko and Kadri suggests Gent carry significant firepower from the bench. Note that these are friendly observations only; team news and lineups must be re-evaluated ahead of any competitive fixture.