Forty -five minutes of patience, one whim with two subtle roof movements and a tight shot in the far corner. On the stroke of half -time, Vivianne Miedema threw the opening match of the European Championship against Wales of the Slot with a great goal. A liberating goal that the Orange Women gave inspiration for a much more accurate second half.
And also: a memorable moment for the 28-year-old striker himself. In her 126th international match, 28-year-old Miedema scored her hundredth goal. A confirmation of her world class and definitive form recovery after a difficult season at her club Manchester City and at Oranje. She was often injured for a long time.
The opening score of Miedema in the extra time came at the right time: after a first half in which the Netherlands played good football and certainly dominated, but rarely was really threatening. In an almost sold -out all -stadium in Lucerne (more than 14,000 spectators), Wales managed to hold a struggling for a long time, supported by a large crowd of loudly singing supporters.
More opportunities in the second half
At the start of the second half, the Orange was considerably more effective. Miedema had given the team wings. Within fifteen minutes it was already 3-0-goals of right winger Victoria Pelova and the emerging left back Esmee Brugts. Many more big opportunities followed, shot on the bar, a rejected goal-it remained 3-0.
A handsome victory that also delivered national coach Andries Jonker Liberation – and relief. In the run -up to the tournament in Switzerland, the Amsterdammer put great pressure on his team. When he was told from the KNVB management in January that his contract after the European Championship is not extended against his will, he screwed up the ambition. “We go for the title.”
To achieve that, the opening match would and would be won. In group D, Wales on paper is the weakest opponent; The following games will become considerably more difficult. On Wednesday, title holder England will follow in Zurich, next Sunday France in Basel.
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In a difficult reasoning, Jonker caused a lot of confusion on the eve of the opening duel. Where he wanted to let the issue of his involuntary departure rest for months, he told Friday in a long interview with the NOS that he had considered that he had considered that lack of confidence to step up before the European Championship. Even recently, when the Orange played two moderate matches in the Nations League at the end of May and the beginning of June (4-0 loss against Germany, 1-1- against Scotland).
It led to frowned eyebrows among the followers of Orange, and presumably also in the selection. Why did he raise the issue again, while the tournament has already begun? At a press conference on Friday, Jonker said that he did very consciously, to focus on the players and “to motivate to the bone” for the game against Wales. “It is one of the things I have thought of the team to be willing to let the wall go through the wall for each other and together during this tournament.”
Raising voice as Van Gaal
Jonker replied irritated to questions about his statements. He looked less relaxed than usual and turned out to be hypersensitive to criticism. Against a journalist who accused him of performing “a puppet show”, he fell as his old teacher Louis van Gaal personally and with elevation.
The fact that his players indeed show a day later what he asks of them – booking a resounding victory with attractive football – will have strengthened Jonker in his belief that he has not provided Ruis, but rather unity within the team. He is still convinced that the Netherlands also has the qualities for it – if everyone is fit.
Also on that point Jonker Hoop can draw from the first game. That matchwinner Miedema lasted for more than an hour – she was changed in the 70th minute – was encouraging. Since her injuries, she had not played for longer than an hour. After the match, the top scorer of Oranje said emotionally that she had been afraid of missing a big tournament. Two years ago she dropped out through a cruciate ligament injury for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. This year it had been ‘very exciting’ again, she said, if she was fit enough to go to Switzerland on time. To speed up her recovery, she even took a physiotherapist to her holiday destination last month.
From a medical point of view, participation in the European Championship was even more exciting for her replacement in the field. Lineth Beerensteyn made playing minutes again for the first time since the end of April. Since she sustained an injury, the VFL Wolfsburg striker no longer came into action. She has already trained with the group in recent days, but apparently it was not yet fully recovered to start in the base, let alone play an entire game. Beerensteyn was immediately dangerous at the point of the attack. Once she hit the side net and also hit once – but then was offside.
National coach Jonker was ‘very satisfied’ afterwards with the first victory of the Dutch national team. Although he would have wanted to see some more goals – “but the bar and the pole were not with him,” he said that his team did exactly what he had agreed with them. “What they showed today is what we want to show.”
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