France U-19s win 3-1 as the Dutch concede two goals in the 2nd half after the French keeper made two excellent saves when the match was tied. the 3rd goal came with 15 seconds left in added time when the Dutch were too tired to defend. Match was pretty even despite the score.
Yes, the Dutch deserved better in this match. The two sides played an even first half--a good goal by Van de Velde to tie the match after an early goal by France. I didn't see the first 15 minutes of the second half--but from about 55' to 75' the Dutch were the better team and had one stretch where they had three chances to score and couldn't put the ball in the net. Grant, the right winger who came on as a substitute and played very well, was involved in all of them. On the first, she came in from the right on goal and might have scored had she shot--but she opted, mistakenly, to center the ball instead and nothing came of it. Not long after, she was again in on goal from the right, centered nicely and a Dutch player would have scored but for a good save from the keeper--who was helped by the fact that the strike wasn't hit with enough power. Then soon after, there was another shot on goal that required to the French keeper to make an even better save. That flurry really was decisive--Dutch should have scored. Then, late in the game, the talented French sub Malard scored twice to win it for the French. Tough loss.
the announcer said that Malard started in the first match against Scotland. She looks to be a good talent and I wonder why she was rested at the beginning of this match. Don't know how much quality Scotland have and I guess we'll find out when they play Norway. Dutch have some nice players at this level which is good to see.
Our coach rotates a lot because our fitness level is in general below many countries. Our culture does not put a huge emphasis on it.
Interesting. I watched the full match and thought except for a couple times the Dutch were quicker than the French.
Tough decision today. Dutch U-19 ladies playing at the same time as Ajax-Pathinaikos!! Anyway, Dutch are up 2-0 against Scotland and look to have the match in control.
I watched both the Spain--Germany and The Netherlands vs. Scotland matches today. The Spain v. Germany match was, not surprisingly, a contest between Germany's size and muscle and the finesse of the Spaniards, who showed their usual skill in close-in ball control and passing. Germany started well and had a shot hit the post, then after the first 15 minutes Spain gradually took control of the match--had more of the ball, did a good job of dispossessing Germany of the ball, and then had a great scoring chance just before halftime but the Spanish player with an open look whelped the ball off the crossbar. Spain again had a lot of the ball in the 2nd half but had difficulty breaking down the Germans, many of whom stood a head taller and quite a bit heavier than their less imposing but more skillful opponents. Germany did have a couple of good opportunities off of counters in the second half but wasted the two I saw with poor decisions. It was a good match. As expected, the Dutch were too much for an outclassed Scotland side. The Netherlands scored two nifty first half goals--but that was the extent of their scoring until the big centerback, Dorn, scored two goals off of corner-kicks in the last five minutes of the game to make the winning margin. It was a workman-like performance by the Dutch, who spent at least two-thirds of the match in Scotland's defensive half/third and yet struggled to find that last pass or touch or good decision that might have resulted in more goals. On the whole they were a bit sloppy and a bit wasteful, I thought, and maybe a bit less than fully motivated. They spent a lot of time in the 2nd half trying to force the ball up the left side of the pitch through a lot of defensive traffic when they perhaps should have been switching the field of play more against a Scotland team that isn't very good but certainly gives full effort for 90 minutes. I'm rather glad that The Netherlands are playing Germany rather than Spain in the semifinal as I think the Dutch should have more of the ball than they might against Spain. But Germany is a tough nut defensively, so it will not be an easy match, at all, but it is one that I think this Dutch team can win. At the least, they have qualified now for the U20 WC in chaotic Nigeria.
congrats to the Dutch for qualifying once again for the u20 WC! watched the German/Spain game(thankly on replay at ESPN3) from yesterday.. Both play the usual more technical game of their senior squads. Spain might of had more possession, but Germany just needed the tie to win the group. Spain's hot shot striker from last year;s u17 WC, Claudia Pina, didn't look good at all; missing some easy sitter's that were spoon fed to her, but at least, their winger, Navarro, still impressing. Germany finally showing much needed athleticism, but still into, go through the middle, tactic, with usually only using the FB's as wingers. Noticing though they were missing at least 3 high quality name brand players, but that could be that perhaps UEFA has a stipulation that don't allow current WC squad members to play in this particular tourney? France showing up with some great individual performances from Mallard & the 15 year old, Becho, while still going with their two big names , Baltimore & Bacha But perhaps looking a little weak defensively, which might come ot byte them in the end Netherlands, while impressively making again the u20 WC, got to wonder if their is a next Miedema amongst them? I only got to see them vs France, where they obviously didn't look too good
Just a reminder Dutch U-19s play Germany tomorrow in the early match of the Euro semi-finals. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:00 US EDT and I think the match will be streamed on the ESPN website here in the US.
Another disappointing loss to Germany 3-1 with the winning team scoring twice in the last nine minutes. Dutch keeper gifted the first goal to Germany coming out recklessly and leaving the goal empty for an easy shot when the defenders did not do their job. Second German goal was a needless shirt tug in the box for an easy call for a PK. Dutch played well and for long stretch outplayed Germany but tired legs and a hot day were not conducive to good football.
Yes, this was a fairly tedious semifinal that the Dutch gave away with two really dumb plays. Hard to win a big match when you give the opponent two goals. On the first, the Dutch goalie, reacting to a German long ball, decided to run 25 yards out from her goal to break up the play but didn't come close to the ball--and didn't need to come out as the Dutch centerbacks had the play under control--and the ball bounced to a German, who easily kicked the ball in the undefended Dutch net. Howler. Then, late, a Dutch defender pulls down a German player in the box and thus gives up a PK and the winning goal. Ugggh. I thought the Dutch might have been slightly better overall in run of play, but neither team could really do much in what was a defensive and not very pretty struggle. Even the Dutch goal was weird--a 25 yard shot that wasn't all that well hit but managed to escape the hands of the slow-reacting German keeper. The Dutch seemed tired and a bit slow in the last 20 minutes. Disappointing loss as the Dutch could have won it--but you can't give away goals.
Weather was 30C according to the match announcer. I think that is why both teams really slowed down in the last 20 minutes. Germans were smart to bring on a fresh forward and the Dutch could not deal with her. I was pretty pleased with some of the players on the Dutch side though Olislagers was really missing in action today with a very poor match overall. Dutch defense was quite decent. Good thing is they qualified for the U-20 WC next year.
I think low long-distance shots get less praise (and more "hate") than they deserve a lot of the time. (i.e. Why does Groenen's goal have the worst like/dislike ratio on YouTube out of the 10 nominees when Schneider got a big hand on Galli's, Bronze's was straight down the middle, and Henry's goal wasn't better aesthetically in my opinion?) However, I completely agree with you here.
Who impressed you guys for the Dutch? I'd actually put Grant--the substitute right winger who came in most (every?) game in the 2nd half--top of the list. She's got some size and pace and created some opportunities in previous games--but don't think she did much today today. (I watched nearly all of the first half and maybe half of the 2nd.) Van de Velde looks pretty talented--scored today--and is only 17. Smits has scored a lot of goals for the U19 and nearly had an excellent one today from distance, but not sure if she's got enough to make any impact going forward. I'd say the same of Leuchter, who has likewise scored a lot and, like Smits, has some qualities, for sure, but can the two of them develop further and really become impact players? Hard to say. Olislagers might be a player but she and her midfield colleagues were pretty meh today, I thought--solid defensively, but played somewhat slow with the ball and with decision-making in the last two games, IMO. Van de Westeringh and Wilms were fairly impressive, Dorn has won some notice, it seems--but I'm not terribly keen on the big, tall centerbacks that always seem to feature for the Dutch. I worry that they don't have enough pace, agility and ball skills be top players, The Dekker conundrum! It's a very solid U19 group---they should have beaten France, IMO, and could have won today without the big mistakes-- but not sure if it's got too many standout players. It's early--they're young; we'll have to wait and see.
I haven't gotten around to watch any match, but Baijings scored the Dutch goal today. Van de Velde did finish with two goals though.
Martinez made a bit of a habit scoring off the bench for Frankfurt last season. Not surprised she made an impact today.
Happy to see that Miedema made the short (12-player) list for FIFA player of the year. She had a great club year but found the going a little tougher in the World Cup, as did all the forwards, which isn't surprising given that the competition was a lot tougher than many of the mediocre teams that Arsenal, Barcelona and Lyon feast on in their home leagues. I'll be interested to see how much Van de Sanden plays for Lyon in the weeks/months ahead. The team--which must have a budget far in excess of most teams--as not 1 or 2 but 3 talented right-wingers now, as Van de Sanden will compete for playing time with Cascarino AND the newly acquired Nikita Parris. Why Lyon believes it needs three top right-wingers when most teams are lucky to have one, I don't know. Maybe one of them will play some on the left, but that's also where Le Sommer plays. Embarrassment of riches. Van de Sanden, to her credit, has played extremely well in the Champions League final the last couple of years.
I swear the shortlist thread here is the only place I've seen quite a few people believe major international competitions should hold most of the weight for the Best Player of the Year/Ballon d'Or award. Based on that reasoning, I wouldn't have Miedema on the shortlist, but as you say, she does absolutely deserve the nomination for the club season she had. Hegerberg was judged to have had a great enough club season to make up for her WC absence; that was not the case for Harder though. I agree with you that there is a big chance it will be either Rapinoe or Bronze (with Ertz and Graham Hansen lurking around).
Oh dear. FIFA extends number of countries in the WWC to 32. We havenot got enough quality teams to fill the current numbers. This is simply going to get us uninteresting shooting gallery matches. Feck that corrupt bunch. WK vrouwenvoetbal in 2023 met 32 teams Wereldvoetbalbond FIFA heeft groen licht gegeven voor de uitbreiding van het WK vrouwenvoetbal. In 2023 zullen er 32 landen deelnemen.
Rather, "We havenot got enough quality teams to fill the current numbers without abandoning FIFA's principles of how to split the spots." But 32 would be hard even if they abandon those.
@L'orange live Arsenal vs Wolfsburg stream coming up in a few hours PS, not sure what threat to post it, but chose over here since Arsenal got more Dutch NT's than English!(hopefully they'll play though as they weren't to be found last week vs Munich) '
Tks for the livestream of Arsenal--Wolfsburg but I missed it and will have to find a replay soon. Sounds like the Gunners struggled today, to say the least.