Goalless draw against FC Emmen in packed Euroborg

FC Groningen drew against FC Emmen on Monday evening in a packed Euroborg. It remained 0-0 after more than 90 minutes of play. Goalkeeper Hidde Jurjus made his debut at FC Groningen. Just like Jurjus, Kristian Lien and Wouter Prins were in the starting line-up for the first time. After the draw, FC Groningen has 14 points from 11 games.

Euroborg was packed with 22,013 spectators on Monday evening. The visitors from Emmen had a great chance in the early stages of the match, but Rui Mendes shot the ball wide of Hidde Jurjus’ goal. After that, it was FC Groningen that looked for the attack, but each time the ball did not fall well enough to score.

A shot from starting debutant Kristian Lien was scored within fifteen minutes of play and a low cross from the other starting debutant Wouter Prins was intercepted just before Lien could enter. The Norwegian striker had an opportunity with his head halfway through the first half and Romano Postema shot onto the crossbar via an opponent after 27 minutes. Both captain Leandro Bacuna and Lien could not head in the rebound.

Radinio Balker became dangerous after more than half an hour of play. A deflected corner kick was reintroduced, but the defender’s effort from the turn was blocked. Prins’s subsequent corner was headed wide by Lien. Sharp crosses from backs Marco Rente and Prins landed well in front of goal, but could not find a fellow player. FC Emmen had a great chance just before half time, but Jurjus stopped Lucas Bernadou’s shot excellently. Most of the opportunities before half time were for FC, but FC Emmen could also have scored twice.

After the break, the FC continued to put in a lot of energy, which was answered by encouragement from the stands. Rente shot at the goal from a great distance and forced keeper Jan Hoekstra to make a save in the bottom right corner. After more than an hour of play, the high cross from the back was just too sharp for the line-up in front of the goal and Bacuna did not hit it with his head at the far post. Rente had to leave injured fifteen minutes before the end, after the German came into hard contact with an opponent in an attempt to shoot the ball.

His replacement Liam van Gelderen came through dangerously on the side ten minutes before the end, but his diagonal shot was cleared. In the last part of the match, opponent Emmen also came out of their shell more, meaning the match could go either way. Piotr Parzyszek had the third good chance for the visitors in the match. The striker shot a ball that remained lying about ten meters from the goal out of the turn, but Marvin Peersman threw himself in front of the shot and changed the bet in such a way that it disappeared wide of the goal.

FC Groningen had a good chance in the seven minutes of injury time through a good header from substitute Thom van Bergen. However, an Emmen defender stood in the way. The striker had a second chance in the closing minutes, this time with his feet. The attacker’s shot went inches wide. So it remained 0-0 in Euroborg. Next Sunday the FC will visit SC Cambuur, kick-off at 12.15 pm. The away section in Leeuwarden is sold out. A week later, on Sunday, November 5, 2:30 PM, FC Dordrecht will visit Euroborg. Tickets can be purchased via: https://tickets.fcgroningen.nl. During the week the FC plays for the TOTO KNVB Cup in Rijnsburg against Rijnsburgse Boys.