The Orange Lionesses have done excellent business in the hunt for an Olympic ticket. Andries Jonker’s team was too strong for Scotland in Nijmegen and also did well for the goal difference with the 4-0 win. After three rounds of play, the Dutch women take the lead in Group 1 of the Nations League, the qualifying tournament for Paris.
It was the evening of the center forwards in the sold-out Goffert stadium. Lineth Beerensteyn scored two picturesque goals, while long-injured goalgetter Vivianne Miedema made the return she had longed for deep in the second half.
Puzzle work
Due to the absence of the injured center defender Dominique Janssen, Jonker had to do some puzzle work in advance to put the right pieces in his defense. The fast Kerstin Casparij replaced Janssen, while Renate Jansen, the ‘hero of England’, was surprisingly chosen as right wingback over Victoria Pelova.
Jonker remained faithful to his 5-3-2 system and that worked out well after just fifteen minutes. Casparij, very active in the opening phase, started walking down the left flank and saw Daniëlle van de Donk appear at the first post: 1-0. It was her 36th international goal.
Not too much later it could have been 1-1 again, when Daphne van Domselaar let a stray Scottish pass slip out of her hands, but the Scottish Martha Thomas had just not taken that into account.
Crucial save
The Scottish women were inferior in football, but were waiting for that one chance, while the Dutch team occasionally came up with a chance with real football. Jill Roord, for example, shot very hard at Lee Alexander’s goal, but the cannonball exploded on a British leg. On the other side, Van Domselaar had to tap the ball away from under the crossbar after a clever shot by Aston Villa teammate Kirsty Hanson.
It turned out to be a crucial save, because a minute or two later the ball was in the Scottish goal for the second time. Esmee Brugts shot a deflected shot from Roord flawlessly into the ropes: 2-0. Goal number seven for the 20-year-old Barça Femini player. Another great shot, from Sherida Spitse, ended up on the roof of the goal via Alexander.
Nice but naive
It should be clear: the crowd was the big winner and saw the Lionesses chasing the third goal, while Scotland also wanted to make it a game. Naive perhaps, many teams tend to dig in against the Netherlands, but it was fun. The score was 2-0.
After the break, the long wait had begun for Vivianne Miedema, the top striker who had made her return for her English club Arsenal on Sunday evening after eleven months of injuries in Bristol. ‘The goat is back’ could be read on a banner: ‘goat’ means The Greatest Of All Time.
Majestic lob
A match often ends after a good first half. On Tuesday, Jonker’s team has to cross swords with Scotland again in Glasgow, but the coach will have reminded his players that the goal difference at the end of the day may be can make the difference.
Spitse sent a gem of a long ball to Lineth Beerensteyn in the 52nd. The attack leader let the ball bounce a few times to almost carelessly beat Alexander with a majestic lob: 3-0. Twenty minutes later, the Juventus attacker scored another beauty with his head, assisted by substitute Damaris Egurrola: 4-0.
Mie-de-ma! Mie-de-ma!
And then, in the 82nd minute, the crowd rose to its feet and chanted for a minute the name of the striker who can finally play football again. ‘Mie-de-ma! Mie-de-ma!’, rolled loudly from the stands. She was cheered with every ball contact.
She didn’t score, Miedema. As she has done 95 times before in the Dutch national team. Interestingly enough, the last time was against Scotland. But how good the reception must have done her, just as the 4-0 win also did a lot of good for the Orange Lionesses.