The Dutch women’s team will defend the European title won under Sarina Wiegman in 2017 this summer, and expectations are of course high ‘in the Dutch way’. After the successful period under Wiegman, Parsons is now waiting for the task to once again manifest himself well on a big stage with the Orange squad, but the 35-year-old national coach was shaking his head almost continuously for the first 45 minutes, he saw so much going wrong on the green. matte for himself.
Van Veenendaal unlucky
Sweden started strongly and keeper Sari van Veenendaal had to reach her goal to intervene with two dangerous free kicks. In the second situation, the goalie collided with teammates Lynn Wilms and Stefanie van der Gragt and the game was stopped for minutes. It went well with Wilms, but Van Veenendaal and Van der Gragt were more battered. Both could (just like Wilms) continue, but in the end Van Veenendaal had to give up. After kicking a long ball, she gestured to the side and had to leave the field.
Bad luck for Sari van Veenendaal (right) who has to make way for Daphne van Domselaar injured.
AFP
Van Veenendaal’s replacement was FC Twente keeper Daphne van Domselaar, who only played her second international match. Van Domselaar saw Kosovare Asllani, one of the feared Swedish attackers, first shoot into the side net, but after 35 minutes Sweden took the lead. Asllani played Aniek Nouwen through the legs and served Jonna Andersson, who hit the target. Not long after, Parsons was forced to switch again, because Nouwen injured her ankle in an ugly way. Marisa Olislagers replaced her, which moved Dominique Janssen from left back to center.
Aniek Nouwen sustains an ugly injury and has to leave the field before half-time.
AFP
The Netherlands had opportunities in the last fifteen minutes before the break, the best of which was for Daniëlle van de Donk. The midfielder shot high over after a one-two with Jill Roord. Sherida Spitse did the same, while the shots from Roord and Lieke Martens did not cause any problems for Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl.
Jonna Andersson scores the opening goal.
ANP/HH
After tea, it turned out that the Orange had taken courage from all the setbacks of the first 45 minutes and under the watchful eye of Louis van Gaal, the team went on the hunt for the 1-1 with visible self-confidence. It came quickly. After Miedema initially saw a combination with Van de Donk fail, Roord didn’t think twice when the ball caromed in front of her foot. The attacker of the Orange scored nicely and so (just like during the World Cup of 2019) the first Orange goal of the tournament came to her name.
Miedema strong
Orange smelled blood and created many more opportunities than in the first half, although they had to be careful of the dangerous Swedish counter-punches. Especially when Stina Blackstenius entered the field after seventy minutes. The Swedish powerhouse who in the end was not fit enough to start, but was able to participate in the last part of the race. Colleague striker Miedema showed herself from her best side a number of times, when she once turned away nicely but couldn’t get it full. A fine pass to Roord also did not result in the 2-1, because the maker of the 1-1 needed too much time to make the assumption.
With Lineth Beerensteyn and Victoria Pelova in line, Parsons brought in some fresh attacking forces in the final phase, but the Orange didn’t get any great opportunities anymore. In fact, Van Domselaar saved a point for the Netherlands with a number of excellent saves. It remained at 1-1, and the second group match with Portugal awaits in Leigh on Wednesday.