Suddenly she had to go under the bar against Sweden, Daphne van Domselaar didn’t even have the time on Saturday to get nervous. Two days later, there is no turning back for the 22-year-old keeper of FC Twente: because Sari van Veenendaal is too injured, she is the new number 1 in the Netherlands.
Van Domselaar was there on Saturday in Sheffield, only her second international match, as if it had never been different. Still, the loss of Van Veenendaal hits hard. The captain was important on and off the field.
‘With Sari you just lose a gigantic leader’, says Vivianne Miedema, who has taken over her band. ‘She has always shown that she is the best keeper and she can bring everyone together and motivate them very well.’
sad retreat
The shoulder injury that Van Veenendaal suffered in the match against Sweden (1-1) after a hard collision with teammates is too serious to continue. Teammate Daniëlle van de Donk had to help pack her suitcase, because she couldn’t do it herself. A sad retreat for the woman who became one of the faces of women’s football after the European title in 2017 and was voted the best goalkeeper in the world in 2019.
These are big shoes to fill, but according to her former FC Twente coach Tommy Stroot, Van Domselaar is ready. “I don’t want to say that she finally gets what she deserves, because Sari is also a fantastic goalkeeper,” he says. “But Daphne is the future and it’s great for her that she already gets the chance at such a tournament.”
The German, who has been coach at the German top club Wolfsburg since last season, was sitting in the stands in Sheffield when Van Domselaar had to go in after about twenty minutes. Fifteen minutes later, she immediately conceded a goal. Not her fault, but still not good. The West Frisian still kept her cool and pulled a draw out of the fire with the team.
‘That is of course very clever’, says Stroot. “She radiated that she didn’t care to get into a match like that for a while.”
Championship match
It doesn’t surprise him at all. Van Domselaar was actually still reserve when he let her keep the championship game in 2019. “That was a crazy idea of mine to switch goalkeepers at the end of the season,” he says. “And also such an important game, but I had the feeling that she was ready. You don’t do that to everyone.’
Van Domselaar caught his eye in 2017 at the national youth teams. ‘She was completely surprised when I called her, she hadn’t expected to be in the picture with a top team like Twente.’
Not surprising, because Van Domselaar – then 17 years – still played with the promises of Telstar, but according to Stroot, that reaction also says something about her character. “She’s humble and sometimes she may not quite realize how good she is and how good she can become.”
He himself is convinced of this. Stroot, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League with Wolfsburg this year, is sure that Van Domselaar is on the shadow lists at all major clubs. ‘Internationally she is one of the few goalkeepers in this class who can expect a very great future.’
According to him, Van Domselaar is not a ‘made goalkeeper’, but a ‘pure natural talent’ who does not always do what goalkeeper trainers say. ‘She anticipates very well and takes action, which is why she often sits very well in situations. You can learn a lot, but sometimes talent comes around the corner that is even better. That’s a bit Daphne.’
Play along with position games
He can still remember how she came to Twente and immediately made an impression. ‘After the first training, the experienced players came to us: Guys, what kind of goalkeeper have you got? She can just play any position game. It was already clear then what was possible.’
Van Domselaar can therefore play football. At 1.76 meters she is not the tallest goalkeeper, but she makes up for that with her athletic qualities. She can sometimes be a bit wild, says Stroot, just a bit too aggressive.
“That’s perfectly normal, of course,” he says. ‘Sari has had that too. She will make mistakes, she must be given time, but I am convinced that she will also be able to handle the international level.’
She will not immediately take over the leadership role of her predecessor, but nobody expects that either. Van Veenendaal was the one who boosted the team in a circle before the match. Is the new captain going to do that now? ‘It depends on whether I feel like it that day’, Miedema laughs. She’s done it before, but she has no doubts that it will work out anyway. “We have a large diverse group of leaders, I think we have the qualities to take that on.”