Bjorn Meijer was crowned the match winner on Saturday with his first Eredivisie goal in the game between FC Groningen and Willem II (1-0). The defender, who made his debut last season, scored in the fourteenth minute with a header after a measured cross from Bart van Hintum. At 18 years and 345 days, Meijer became the youngest defender with an Eredivisie goal for FC Groningen since Ronald Koeman in 1982. Danny Buijs was very complimentary about ‘the super guy’ after the victory in the Euroborg.
“He hardly played football last year because the youth competitions came to a standstill due to corona. Before that, he was able to join us twice, during a training session and a practice match,” Buijs said in conversation with ESPN† “Then he suffered a nasty injury. It seemed as if there was a curse on him. But if you look now, how he fills it in after the winter. That is amazing. The boy is eighteen years old. A super guy. He trains hard, listens, is eager to learn and self-critical.”
“If he gets a little bolder, he can have a bright future. He will learn that.” Meijer is a child of the club, who, like the brothers Erwin and Ronald Koeman, took his first steps on the fields of VV Helpman. In his eighth basic appearance in the Eredivisie, the teenager made the difference. The defender knows he has to get bolder. “I hear that often. I am a humble boy. If I step inside the lines, I have to throw that off me. I still have to work on that.”
FC Groningen booked the third consecutive home win against Willem II in the Eredivisie, the shared best series ever for the Northerners against the Tilburgers (three times before). The defense will also have gained confidence: FC Groningen kept zero in an Eredivisie game (0-1 against Go Ahead Eagles) for the first time since November 21, 2021, and did so for the first time since October 24, 2021 in a home game in the Eredivisie. (2-0 against AZ). FC Groningen also did not concede a single shot on target against Willem II; Buijs’s team last succeeded in this in an Eredivisie match against FC Utrecht on 21 August 2021.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | † | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 23 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 65 | 57 |
| 2 | PSV | 23 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 28 | 52 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 23 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 51 |
| 4 | AZ | 23 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 45 |
| 5 | FC Twente | 24 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 45 |
| 6 | Vitesse | 23 | 11 | 4 | 8 | -9 | 37 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 23 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 36 |
| 8 | SC Cambuur | 24 | 10 | 3 | 11 | -10 | 33 |
| 9 | NEC | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | -4 | 31 |
| 10 | Fc Groningen | 24 | 7 | 8 | 9 | -5 | 29 |
| 11 | Heracles Almelo | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | -6 | 26 |
| 12 | sc Heerenveen | 23 | 7 | 4 | 12 | -13 | 25 |
| 13 | Go Ahead Eagles | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 | -16 | 23 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 24 | 5 | 8 | 11 | -13 | 23 |
| 15 | William II | 24 | 6 | 3 | 15 | -22 | 21 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 23 | 5 | 4 | 14 | -27 | 19 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 22 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -18 | 17 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | -21 | 17 |