The England of Sarina Wiegman outscludes the Dutch team

His players have had a very heavy first half and hardly seem to be able to align the many attacks of the much stronger England in the second group duel of the European Championship. So: hold on for a while, girls, Jonker tries to tell them.

But then the clapping follows. In the first minute of the extra time, Jill Roord caused a free kick in midfield with a mild foul. The free kick towards the heart of the sixteen-meter area is poorly headed away by left back Esmee Brugts and just falls through a small knob at the feet of Georgia Stanway, which strikes hard: 2-0. National coach Jonker: “In the first half we were the underlying party. The 2-0 falcon for the break was Nekkbreker. You know you have to hold 1-0.”

Whereas the first group duel last Saturday against Wales instead of a goal by Vivianne Miedema was broken open for the Orange, the game in the squatter against England fell in the lock at exactly the same time.

Zoom in

The hundredth of the striker in the Netherlands had led to a nice victory, 3-0, and the first three points in the heavy group D. How different is the game against the title holder on Wednesday evening. For the team led by former Orange coach Sarina Wiegman it was over or under it. After all, in her opening match against France it went wrong with a defeat of 2-1. This Wednesday in the sold -out of the stadium in Zurich (22,600 spectators), England has to revanches. New loss will mean that the reigning European champion has been eliminated for the quarterfinals.

No surprise

It could not have been a surprise for the Dutch national team that the English are completely for it from the first minute. Now there are few surprises between the two teams anyway, because there are countless personnel transverse connections. At least ten orange players are active in the English competition and therefore have good and personal opponents. In addition, after this tournament, Arjan Veurink, the assistant of Wiegman, will become the new national coach of the Netherlands – as the successor to Jonker who would have liked to stay so much.

It soon becomes clear that Jonker’s somewhat more defense plan is not running at all

The national coach who wants to play offensive and attractive football, regardless of the opponent, has devised a somewhat more defense tactics for the clash with England. He starts with a flexible defense of three central defenders at (the rare own) possession under the leadership of Dominique Janssen and Veerle Buurman-the only 19-year-old talent that many prospective teams of Chelsea encountered.

In the event of a loss of ball, which is much more common in the first half, the intention is that the wing players drop to help the defense.

It soon becomes clear that Jonkers playing plan is not running at all. The Netherlands is being overwhelmed on all sides. If the defense manages to repel attacks, it is hardly possible to defend meaningfully. Balls are quickly returned by good printing Englishmen. Midfield is completely outclassed. And the line of attack is hardly achieved, if at all – for Miedema no serious opportunities for a hundreds of goal.

There is a mitigating circumstance, which appears shortly before the game: one of the best players is not fit. Danielle van de Donk has ‘complaints’, as the national coach calls it, and in any case cannot start the competition. With this, the Orange lacks an important creative game distributor in midfield who always knows how to pip and scores others – 38 goals in 169 international matches.

And also attacker Lineth Beerensteyn is still not sufficiently recovered from her injuries to start the game. She takes place again on the reserve bench.

More Power

In the second half, Jonker changes the helm, hoping to get some control over the game again with more experience and power. After the break, he brings in a triple change, with Beerensteyn (for Jill Roord) in the point of the attack and at the back of record international Sherida Spitse and Caitlin Dijkstra for the young neighbor and Brugts.

But it doesn’t help much, because England’s flexible attacks will continue. It seems to be 3-0 within five minutes, but the goal of Alessia Russo is being rejected due to difficult to observe offside.

In the sixtieth minute, Lauren James managed to score the third goal, seven minutes later followed by the knockout by Ella Toone. The other organization of the defense that Jonker devised for the second half does not turn out to be. It is striking how much space was given to take and shoot the ball – in the middle of the penalty area. Van de Donk’s raid, who replaces Miedema more than twenty minutes before time, cannot prevent the punishment.

Shrunk opportunities

The European Championship is not yet lost for the Netherlands, but the opportunities have shrunk considerably. Suppose that Wales will not win any match in group D, the Orange will have to beat the next heavy opponent, France, next Sunday evening in Basel.

National coach Jonker keeps hope: “We did not expect this result. It is a hard blow, very annoying, but we experienced that two months ago [4-0 verlies tegen Duitsland in Nations League]. We have to pick up and process the disappointment together. Miracles are not out of the world yet. “

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