Balt rolls again in Groningen – Willem II squanders lead against NAC
GRO-NEC | Emergency substitutions
Groningen coach Dennis van der Ree has to make two substitutions right at the start. Johan Hove and Oliver Antman, who were on the field at the time the game was stopped on Saturday, are not there today.
They are replaced by Laros Duarte and Luciano Valente, respectively.
Public outside the stadium makes themselves heard
Fans are not welcome inside the stadium today, but NAC supporters want to make themselves heard anyway. They do so by setting off fireworks. Outside the stadium this time, allowing the match to start as usual.
Groningen yearns for victory
FC Groningen won only one of its last eighteen premier league matches. That one win, a 3-0 home victory over Excelsior, was on Feb. 25 of this year. No team collected as few points from its last eighteen premier league games as the northerners.
In total, Groningen did not take the full spoils very often this season anyway, only four times. The current number seventeen of the premier league has already lost twenty games. Since the club was founded in 1971, Groningen lost as many league matches in a season only in 1973/1974.
What is the state of the matches?
At 2:30 p.m., the match resumed in Breda at a 0-1 score for the visitors from Tilburg. Elton Kabangu had scored the only goal so far just before the match was stopped.
At Groningen – NEC there is still a 0-0 score on the scoreboard when the match is kicked off again at 3 p.m.
This time there is no crowd in the stands in Breda and Groningen.
Clubs struggle, several tons of damage
FC Groningen and NEC are struggling with the KNVB’s tightened measures that allow matches to be suspended and stopped more quickly. Last weekend, both clubs had the dubious honor of being involved in the first suspended Eredivisie match after the new policy was implemented.
“We question the current consequences of the introduced policy in relation to the consequences for club and supporters, who are in the same boat with each other,” a spokesman for the Groningers stated.
The match was stopped because a Groningen fan threw a mug of beer at a linesman. According to the club, the suspended match results in damages of “a few tons.”
Read the entire article about it at the link below:
Possible Finalissima for AZ youth
The European adventure of the AZ talents does not end yet with the Youth League win. After all, a Finalissima.
Coach Jan Sierksma reveals that. So a battle with the winner of the South American Youth League lies ahead. “That will be a match between Under-20 teams. Whether it is true, I still have to get it confirmed. But it would be fantastic,” Sierksma said after the victory over Hajduk Split.
What the coach does know for sure: this youth team from AZ will be there during the Conference League game with West Ham United. His team will probably even get a lap of honor in the AFAS Stadium.
A week after the incident in Breda, the same thing happened in Groningen. One of the assistant referees was hit by a cup of beer thrown from the crowd. Referee Richard Martens then removed the players from the field in the eighteenth minute when the score was 0-0.
Because, unlike a week earlier in Breda, someone was hit by a thrown object, the players did not return to the field.
New rules applied for the first time
At NAC – Willem II, the KNVB’s tightened rules were applied for the first time.
The Football Association announced the tightening of measures after the “lighter incident” during the Feyenoord-Ajax cup match. A match is immediately stopped when a player or referee is hit from the audience by an object, as happened to Ajacied Davy Klaassen in De Kuip.
In the case of only throwing objects without hitting anyone, on a first occasion players and referees go to the dressing rooms and the match is temporarily stopped. On a second occasion, the game is stopped immediately.
Good afternoon and welcome to this weekday soccer liveblog. There are two games scheduled today, but they are no longer full games. In fact, both duels were stopped because objects were thrown onto the field from the stands.
In the first division match between NAC Breda and Willem II on April 14, it happened in the 74th minute. In the premier league match FC Groningen – NEC, on April 22, the players went back into the dressing room in the 18th minute.
Groningen, which has not won six premier league games in a row, could use a win in the fight against relegation. And even with a win against NEC, the gap with number sixteen Excelsior is still substantial: eight points with four games to play.
