Defending champions Netherlands are on staff before the game against Portugal: Jackie Groenen and Vivianne Miedema have Corona, Aniek Nouwen is injured, as is captain Sari van Veenendaal, who has even left. Daphne van Domselaar is in goal for them. Wolfsburg’s coach praised the young keeper in the highest tones.
Tommy Stroot sat in the stands in Sheffield to survey the performance of his Dutch players at VfL Wolfsburg. Lynn Wilms, Dominique Janssen, Jill Roord – all three made it into the starting XI in the first European Championship game against Sweden (1-1). All of a sudden, however, the focus was on a player who also knows Stroot very well: Daphne van Domselaar.
The 22-year-old from FC Twente from Enschede was thrown in at the deep end after captain Sari van Veenendaal injured his shoulder so badly in the early stages that the tournament was over for the number one. But while there was a lot of unrest among the “Oranje” fans at Bramall Lane after a good 20 minutes, Stroot remained calm when his former Twente protégé had to prove himself on the big stage in his second international match. Her discoverer knew exactly what the young keeper was capable of.
Stroot on van Domselaar: “Daphne is the future”
“I’m not saying that she’s finally getting what she deserves because Sari is also a fantastic goalkeeper. But Daphne is the future and it’s nice for her to have the chance to play in a tournament like this,” Stroot said Dutch newspaper “De Volkskrant”. In fact, the young woman from the province of Noord-Holland accepted the task as if she had to deal with such challenges on a daily basis. Jonna Andersson’s 1-0 was not her fault, after Roord’s 1-1 she held on to the point.
Stroot saw just how brazen the young goalkeeper was three years ago. He brought on the reserve keeper in the decisive Eredivisie league game for Enschede, despite having been in the back all season. “It was a crazy idea of mine to change goalkeepers at the end of the season,” he says. “And then such an important game. But I felt like she was ready for it. You don’t do that with everyone.”
Natural talent in the focus of the top clubs
Stroot praises van Domselaar as a “pure natural talent” – who doesn’t always do what the goalkeeping coach says. “You can learn a lot, but sometimes there are players who just have more talent. It’s a bit like that with Daphne.” When she was 17, he guided her from SC Telstar in Velsen to Enschede. She still has a contract there until 2023, but Stroot is certain that top international clubs have long had her on the list. Top-level goalkeepers at her age are still a rarity. In this respect, the EM is the perfect stage for them.
For Wolfsburg coach Tommy Stroot, Daphne van Domselaar is the goalkeeper of the future.
Portugal lets free spirits off the leash
Van Domselaar can still be a bit wild sometimes, which is normal for her age, Stroot thinks: “She will make mistakes, she needs her time, but I’m convinced that she will be able to cope with the international level.” They may not be as much of a focus against Portugal as they were against Sweden, but Francisco Neto’s side drew attention to themselves as they came back 2-2 against Switzerland.
Portugal’s team is also full of free spirits who sometimes don’t give a damn about tactical guidelines, but are always able to conjure up something special every now and then. Coach Neto does not want to bend this squad. “I told the players that the commitment, passion and joy I saw in them was something I haven’t felt that often in the past. That makes me proud as a coach.”
Netherlands also without Nouwen, Groenen and Miedema
Of course, the Portuguese are underdogs against the defending champions tonight (07/13/2022 / 9 p.m. CEST) at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium, but it will be exciting to see how the top favorites can cope with their personal setbacks. In addition to van Veenendaal, central defender Aniek Nouwen, who injured her ankle against Sweden, and Jackie Groenen, who had to go into isolation for at least five days after a positive corona test on Sunday, are also absent. On Tuesday, Groenen was followed by a positive result from Vivianne Miedema. This means that the Arsenal striker, who took over the captaincy from van Veenendaal, is out of the game for the time being.
Miedema celebrates her birthday in isolation
Miedema is likely to be the most serious failure at “Oranje”. Not only because she was the best Dutch player against Sweden. Miedema has scored 94 goals in 112 international appearances – the first three as a 17-year-old in the 7-0 win over Portugal in 2013 World Cup qualifying after coming on as a substitute with just 15 minutes remaining. If Corona hadn’t intervened, she could have pushed her fabulous goal tally further towards the magic hundred. Now she not only experiences the second group game in isolation, but also has to spend her 26th birthday this Friday (July 15th, 2022) with maximum fun.