The only goal was a co-production by Lidewij Welten, the player who took the decisive penalty corner, and goalscorer Frédérique Matla. You don’t make it up, but it’s really true: Welten used to be Matla’s babysitter in Valkenswaard.
Another striking role was played by Marloes Keetels, the player who has been unbeaten in Orange for 83 matches in a row. The player from Den Bosch, who will say goodbye after the World Cup, played like a prince in midfield. The Netherlands played its best game of the World Cup anyway.
Marloes Keetels (m.)
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Impossible possible
Actually, it’s not possible at all, but it happened anyway. The team that had the worst preparation ever due to all the vicissitudes surrounding the fired national coach Alyson Annan, reached the final battle of a world championship for the thirteenth time in history.
And that in the doomed Estadi Olimpic de Terrassa. There, in the unsightly industrial town near Barcelona, the Netherlands Hockey Country had the worst Olympic Games ever. The men’s team fell just outside the podium with a fourth place, the Orange ladies of Roelant Oltmans, divided by quarrels, only finished sixth.
Show
Orange set the tone in the opening phase, in which the pace was not very high. It was tropically warm on the sky-blue synthetic turf field. The first chance of the game presented itself after four minutes, when Felice Albers pinged through the Australian defense over the right and found Maria Verschoor in the packed circle. The striker’s effort lacked power.
Just before the end of the first quarter, Laurien Leurink got the green light, but despite the numerical minority, the Netherlands continued to have the most offensive intentions. That resulted in the second chance: Albers had it on his hips again and now delivered the ball to Marloes Keetels. Her effort went wide. At the defending champion’s third opportunity, the danger came from the left, but Lidewij Welten found Jocelyn Bartram on her way.
Freeke Moes in action against Australia.
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Nine penalty corners
Although the Orange defense had things in order, a carelessness out of the blue by Margot van Geffen gave the ‘Aussies’ a chance, but Ambrosia Malone shot over with her backhand. The Netherlands dominated, got a penalty corner after a great action by Freeke Moes that just didn’t yield the deserved opening goal. Bartram, however, struggled to work Yibbi Jansen’s drag push out of her goal.
It was clear that Orange, operating in black, dominated. Shortly after the break, the team should have scored and taken distance, had it not been for the fact that nine (!) penalty corners had not been spent on the number 1 in the world. Eva de Goede then had the 1-0 on her stick, but saw Bartram’s extension leg throw a spanner in the works. The goalie of the ‘Hockeyroos’ played a hero’s role.
Frederique Matla.
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Babysitter Welten
However, the Orange goal was inevitable. And that happened precisely when the team just slowed down after the penalty corner bombardment. But Frédérique Matla sent Welten into the depths and then all sorts of things happened. First Matla was swept down by Bartram, which normally meant that the ball had to be put on the dot.
But Laurine Deforge, the referee from Belgium, failed to do so and gave a penalty corner. The strange thing was that no Dutch player wanted to consult the ‘var’. Afterwards it all doesn’t matter anymore, because Matla flawlessly dragged the eleventh penalty corner onto the shelf. It was Matla’s first corner, which was her third tournament goal. Funny: Welten used to be the goalscorer’s nanny.
Birthday
Australia played all or nothing, gave away a lot of space, but the Orange did not benefit from that. In the last minute the ‘Aussies’ got a second corner, but it was overrun by Welten. Achieving the final spot on her 32nd birthday was a fitting gift.
The Orange squad meets Argentina in the final on Sunday evening (9:30 PM). The South American team defeated Germany in the other semifinal after shoot-outs. The regular time did not yield a winner and ended in 2-2. The final battle at the World Cup is a repeat of the Olympic final in Tokyo. At the time, the Netherlands defeated Argentina 3-1 in the Oi Hockey Stadium.