Andries Jonker (60) eventually got what he asked his team for for the mostly empty stands in Malta. The national coach wanted to win with beautiful football. After the first exhibition game against Austria on Friday ended in a 2-1 loss after a mediocre performance, the Dutch took revenge on Tuesday-evening with a convincing 4-0 victory. The game was attractive at times.
Jonker only wants ‘the gusts’ to cover an even larger part of the match. In this way he wants to achieve results with the Orange at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next summer. No statements have yet been made about the final goal of the current vice-world champion. “With a bit of luck and good football we should be able to go far,” said 28-year-old Jackie Groenen in Malta. “It is important that we are in good shape mood come.”
Wiegman and Parsons
Sun mood brought the women of Orange a lot of success in recent years. Under former national coach Sarina Wiegman, they grew into a national hype with a European title in 2017 and a second place at the 2019 World Cup.
But the good feeling evaporated under her English successor Mark Parsons. In the summer of 2022, this led to a largely unsuccessful European Championship in England. The Netherlands was eliminated in the quarterfinals by France. Parsons was fired.
It was up to national coach Jonker to provide the Orange with new impetus. After he qualified for the World Cup with ‘the old guard’ in September last year, via a difficult victory over Iceland, the building of a new team started. In doing so, Jonker held on to experienced stars, who, in combination with talents, must form a successful Orange.
Jonker was at work for four months when the Orange faced a sporting disaster. The super striker Vivianne Miedema was so badly injured in her knee at her club Arsenal in December that participation in the World Cup is ruled out. With that, Jonker not only lost his best international, but also his top scorer.
After Jonker experimented in a series of exhibition games against Norway, Costa Rica and Denmark and gave several players a chance, the preparation for the World Cup has really started as far as he is concerned with the diptych against Austria in Malta. One thing became clear: captain Sherida Spitse (32) had to give up her place in midfield to Damaris Egurrola (23). Spitse could not convince Jonker of his wrong during her first substitution on Friday, but showed on Tuesday evening that she is still of value with her kick.
Read also: this interview with Andries Jonker, not long after his appointment as national coach. “I am sometimes harsh and direct.”
Jonker shows with his choice for Egurrola that reputations based on past performances are not sacred to him. The national coach makes his decisions based on the quality that players can offer in matches. And Spitse seems to be the main victim of that philosophy.
The Orange team, with keeper Daphne van Domselaar, backs Esmee Brugts and Kerstin Casparij, central defenders Stefanie van der Gragt and Dominique Janssen, midfielders Jackie Groenen, Daniëlle van de Donk and Damaris Egurrola and attacker Lieke Martens five months before the World Cup largely fixed. It is becoming increasingly clear who, as a center striker, will be given the virtually impossible task of replacing Miedema.
Jonker gave both Fenna Kalma and Lineth Beerensteyn a chance from the start during the two exhibition matches. Kalma, the 22-year-old striker of FC Twente, failed to make a great impression on Friday at the 2-1 international match and was substituted for Beerensteyn fifteen minutes before the end. The 26-year-old attacker from Juventus did impress in the second game with two goals and an assist. She scored the opening goal and pushed in the 3-0. The two other hits were made by Martens and the talented Brugts.
Jonker saw a better Orange on Tuesday evening in the National Stadium than four days before. Beforehand, the national coach hoped that his team would be able to properly implement the so-called 1-4-3-3 system, and they succeeded.
The national coach was already convinced that the Orange can also play in the 1-3-5-2 system. In the coming period, in which the Netherlands will play three exhibition matches in front of its own public, Jonker will determine in which formation he will start against Portugal or Cameroon on July 23 in New Zealand. They play against each other on Wednesday for a place in Group E, which also includes the United States and Vietnam.
Outsider at World Cup
The Dutch national team is no more than one outsider at the World Cup in which 32 countries participate for the first time. The Orange has been surpassed in the past four years by the national teams of England, France, Germany and Spain, where professional competitions are becoming increasingly better. The Dutch Women’s Eredivisie cannot compete well with the larger European competitions.
For the time being, Orange is still the flagship of Dutch women’s football with Jonker as the satisfied helmsman along the side. Jonker, after the game: “Now we have to show this against the top.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of February 22, 2023