Van de Donk turns out to be a fast student with a beautiful goal: ‘I had to shoot more’ | NOW

Daniëlle van de Donk had to shoot more often from her personal analyst after the opening match against Sweden. She proved to be a quick learner against Portugal on Wednesday: she scored the winning 3-2 with a beautiful long shot.

Van de Donk has been working with former pro Eli Sarasola for some time, who analyzes players and provides them with tips. She mainly does this to be able to “scan” better on the field, to know where her teammates are walking around her.

They spoke after Saturday’s game against Sweden (1-1). They had watched the footage of the duel in Sheffield together and Van de Donk’s little shooting came to the fore.

“She asked: why didn’t you ask for the ball? Didn’t you expect it? Then I said: I thought I wouldn’t shoot it. But I once heard from a psychologist: you should always think that you shoot in. If you want to be an inch taller, you can be an inch taller.”

In the 62nd minute of the game Van de Donk got the ball about 20 meters from the goal and she thought: I’ll shoot it. She did that in a fabulous way: the ball popped nicely into the top corner. It turned out to be the winning goal in an extremely difficult match for the Orange Women.

‘Everyone shouted that I deserved it so much’

For Van de Donk, the goal was a crowning achievement after a long rehabilitation from a foot injury. The midfielder was sidelined for more than seven months with a rare foot injury. It was even questionable whether she would make it to the European Championship.

“It’s super nice, really great. But I attach much more value to the moment we were on the floor cheering and everyone shouted: you’ve earned this so much. That’s much nicer than me shooting it.”

Van de Donk is only now beginning to realize that she has made it to the European Championships after a grueling rehabilitation. “I heard a lot after the game against Sweden: how clever! You are in the starting lineup and you have worked hard for it. The more you hear it, the more you realize it.”

However, Van de Donk was also critical that the Netherlands would have given away a 2-0 lead without the corona-infected Vivianne Miedema and Jackie Groenen. “It is such a shame that it will be such a difficult game. We were the better team. We let them come back into the game. Then you have to make a lot of meters again and fight a lot. We could have saved ourselves a lot of energy.”