The Dutch team lost without a chance to Spain and Germany. Who should carry Andries Jonker’s team now?

Stop or continue. They had discussed it among themselves during the training camp of the Dutch national team. Lieke Martens, Sherida Spitse, Daniëlle van de Donk, Shanice van de Sanden: how long do they want to play for the Dutch national team now that they are over thirty? “It is clear that this unique generation has entered the final phase of its career,” said national coach Andries Jonker. “Nature will do its work.”

He made those statements in the catacombs of the Abe Lenstra stadium in Heerenveen, where the Dutch national team lost to Germany (0-2) last Wednesday and thus missed out on qualification for the Paris Olympic Games. That defeat followed a loss against Spain (3-0) – the Netherlands had no chance in both matches. During last summer’s World Cup, the Dutch team did not get further than the quarter-finals. Even then, Spain, the future world champion, was too strong.

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Goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar (24 years)

There was no time for nerves. During the 2022 European Championship, first goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal was injured, and Daphne van Domselaar suddenly had to replace her. A European Championship debut for the goalkeeper who until then was largely unknown to the general public. She was there immediately, played goalkeeping well, and never disappeared from the starting line-up of the Dutch national team. Last year she transferred from FC Twente to Aston Villa, in the Women’s Super League (WSL), the strong English league.

She sees herself as a prototype of the modern goalkeeper, she said last year in Fidelity. “An eleventh field player”, who is also an important part of the attack structure. She thinks goalkeepers are getting better. A few years ago, she said, goalkeepers “just looked clumsy compared to men’s football” – especially on high balls. “But you really don’t see that anymore at an international level these days.”

The fact that she is now an important player for the Dutch team is also due to her move to England. The level is much higher than in the Women’s Eredivisie in the Netherlands, where only a few top teams are active. In the English league the game is faster, more physical, technically better.

One difference: in England all players are full professionals, in the Netherlands not. For the time being, the following applies: if you are good, it is best to go abroad to continue growing. The fact that many players make that choice, just like Van Domselaar, currently seems to be a condition for returning the Dutch national team to international top level.

Defender Caitlin Dijkstra (25 years old)

Caitlin Dijkstra had the tough task last year to succeed Stefanie van der Gragt in the Dutch defense. She was called ‘Steel Steef’ by national coach Jonker, because of her strength and over-my-body mentality. Van der Gragt retired after the World Cup last summer. Dijkstra, who started her professional career at Ajax, had been playing well in the FC Twente shirt for quite some time.

She signed in 2023 with the German top club VfL Wolfsburg, which reached the final of the Champions League last year. This season the Germans will rent her out to FC Twente, for some extra experience. Next summer she will move to Germany to play in a stronger competition and also play in the Champions League. So she can still develop considerably.

She is already a stable factor in the Oranje base. She replaced Van der Gragt there quite quietly. She can dribble strongly and could play an important role in the development of the Dutch national team. Now record international Sherida Spitse (229 international matches) usually takes on that role – she has an excellent pass.

Spitse would like to play the European Championship next year, but she also sees that a new generation must take over – both in terms of football and leadership. “We all know that you are not going to play until you are forty or fifty,” Spitse said last week. “And then other girls have to take up that role.”

Midfielder Wieke Kaptein (18 years)

Last year, at the age of seventeen, she became the youngest Dutch international ever, women and men, to play at a World Cup. She was only fifteen years old when she made her debut for FC Twente in the Champions League – no one did that for women at such a young age.

In addition to players in their mid-twenties such as Van Domselaar, Dijkstra and also the long-term injured Jill Roord, who can fulfill a leadership role, the Dutch national team has a few great, young talents. Wieke Kaptein is perhaps the most important. Last year she signed a contract with Chelsea, which will allow her to gain experience at FC Twente this season.

Kaptein comes from a sporting family, with two older brothers who made everything a competition. She has been playing soccer since she was five, and played with and against boys’ teams from the age of thirteen until she was seventeen. She has become faster and physically stronger – many other internationals also have that experience – she said on the website of the Johan Cruyff College, where she is taking the Sports and Coaching course.

Last week against Germany she was in the starting line-up for the Dutch team for the first time. Afterwards, in front of the NOS camera, she was visibly torn between sadness (because of the defeat) and pride (because of her starting position). She had hoped to reach the Olympic Games, precisely because the team now has a nice mix of experience and talent. “But it wasn’t meant to be.”

Attacker Esmee Brugts (20 years old)

It was during the World Cup, in the match against Vietnam. Esmee Brugts advanced to the corner of the penalty area and placed the ball hard and with great feeling in the far corner. In the first half. And again in the second half. These were her first two goals for the Dutch national team in a final round, but few people were surprised. Because even though she is still young, she has already played thirty international matches, in which she scored eight times.

Brugts has quickly become a regular face at the Dutch team. The goals against Vietnam were also exemplary of her role: Brugts is originally an attacker, but is often used in the Dutch team as a ‘wingback’ who covers the entire left side of the field. Pulling in and shooting is one of her specialties.

Brugts also made the move abroad, as Dutch talents always do. Last year she went from PSV to FC Barcelona. The Spanish club is the last winner of the Champions League, and it says a lot about Brugts’ potential that her dream club wanted her.

She is perhaps the best example of the generational change in the Dutch national team. In the past, she said earlier NRC, she was a fan of Lieke Martens. She now plays with her at the Dutch team, and she is considered an important successor to become a star in the national team. Before she left for Paris Saint-Germain, Martens also experienced her greatest successes at FC Barcelona, ​​just like Brugts wants to do now.

It is important for her development, and for the Dutch team, that she gets a permanent starting place in Barcelona. Not easy in a team for which many players from world champion Spain play.

It is not the fault of Brugts’ will to succeed, as is evident from her previous statements: “I am very critical of myself, to the point of exaggeration. I am my worst enemy, it is never good enough.”

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