Friday, August 9, 2024 at 9:56 PM
A great return to the Eredivisie. FC Groningen won the first match of the season in a packed Euroborg with 4-1 against NAC Breda. At half time, the Pride of the North led 3-0 with goals from Leandro Bacuna (penalty), Rui Mendes and Marco Rente. After the break, Jorg Schreuders scored for the Groningen team. Dominik Janosek scored from 11 meters the goal for the visitors from Breda. NAC played with ten men from the eighth minute after a red card for Enes Mahmutovic.
Coach Dick Lukkien started the Eredivisie with a starting debutant and two newcomers in his starting line-up. Etienne Vaessen and Finn Stam made their first official minutes for the Pride of the North while Tika de Jonge started a match for the first team for the first time. A total of 21,306 tickets were sold. The supporters honoured the former chairman of FC Jaap van der Linde, who passed away in July, and former host of FC Groningen Jacques d’Ancona with a minute’s applause beforehand.
The Noordtribune Groningen had once again put together a great atmosphere action for the return to the Eredivisie. The energy was in the stadium and in the team from the start of the match. Within 2 minutes of play Rui Mendes was able to get through to goalkeeper Daniel Bielica after a combination with Thom van Bergen. The Portuguese was brought down, which allowed captain Leandro Bacuna to take a shot from about 20 meters from the goal. His free kick went into the wall.
Five minutes later the captain was allowed to take a shot from 11 meters. Jorg Schreuders had been taken down in the penalty area by Enes Mahmutovic. The NAC player had to go to the sidelines with a red card and Bacuna shot the penalty well, 1-0.
FC Groningen already had an advantage with 11 against 11 and with one man more the balance of power only became clearer. The pressure forward was rewarded in the 25th minute. Rui Mendes scored his first goal in Euroborg after a great assist from Luciano Valente. The Portuguese celebrated the goal with ‘The Griddy’, a dance from the game Fortnite, 2-0.
Shortly after half an hour of play, Marco Rente made it 3-0. The defender headed in from a cross by Schreuders. At the end of the first half, Johan Hove and Schreuders were close to goal number four, but both came up against goalkeeper Bielica. FC Groningen played a very attacking first half with a total of ten shots, six of which went between the posts and almost 70% of the ball possession. Goalkeeper Vaessen had to take action once and made a great save in the final phase of the first half with a quick reflex on an attempt by Elias Mar Omarsson, close to the goal.
Home-grown Sven Bouland came on the field for Marvin Peersman right after the break. The debut for the youngster. The first action of the 18-year-old defender was unfortunate, which resulted in FC being awarded a penalty. Dominik Janosek converted the penalty, 3-1.
FC Groningen had a harder time in the second half than before half-time, but remained deadly dangerous in the transition. Where possible, high pressure was applied and when this resulted in possession of the ball, the team of trainer Dick Lukkien also invariably created danger. After more than an hour of play, Mendes passed to Schreuders after such a situation, who slid the ball in, 4-1.
Directly after the goal, Thijs Oosting was allowed to make his first minutes for FC Groningen and Brynjolfur Willumsson had also come on as a substitute in the second half. For the Icelander it was also his debut for the Pride of the North. Just like before half-time, Euroborg stood behind the team as one block and the supporters were loudly present.
That made it an atmospheric evening in the stadium until the final whistle. In injury time, substitute Laros Duarte tried to beat the goalkeeper from a great distance, but his good attempt did not hit the target. FC Groningen will play the away match against RKC Waalwijk next Saturday. A week later, on Sunday 25 August, AZ will visit Euroborg, kick-off is at 12:15. Tickets can be purchased via: https://tickets.fcgroningen.nl.
