The the Dutch Lionesses started the Olympic Games on Wednesday with a monster victory. The team of national coach Sarina Wiegman did not benefit from Zambia, which was defeated 3-10. At halftime, the Netherlands was already looking at a 1-6 lead, after which the score was expanded in the second company. Vivianne Miedema was the big eye-catcher with four hits. It was the striker’s first time in her career that she managed to score four times in one international match. Moreover, never so many goals were scored in a women’s match at the Olympics.
In the run-up to the duel with the Zambian women, the Netherlands was mainly concerned with the lack of Sherida Spitse. The midfielder and permanent force was told on Tuesday that the Olympic Games will be missed due to a knee injury. Shanice van de Sanden could therefore count on a starting spot and started as right winger. From the first whistle it became clear that Zambia had to rely on the switch, although Bruce Mwape’s team put remarkably high pressure. This led to the first goal after ten minutes of play, when keeper Hazel Nali misjudged a deep pass, went under the ball and Miedema was able to score for her first of the match.
The the Dutch soon had opportunities to raise the margin within fifteen minutes, but Miedema and Van de Sanden were inaccurate. Lieke Martens was accurate after fifteen minutes. Nali came out and made hands outside the penalty area, after which Martens was accurate in the rebound: 0-2. Not much later, Miedema took care of her second on the advice of Daniëlle van de Donk. Like Nali, Sari van Veenendaal also made a mistake. The the Dutch keeper came out, but made a mistake and saw how Barbra Banda was able to score: 1-3. In the remainder of the first half, the the Dutch squad expanded the score through Miedema (left shot), Martens (shot from a distance) and Van de Sanden (played attack).
After an hour of play, Miedema took care of the 1-7 with her fourth of the game. Wiegman then pulled her top scorer to the side for Lineth Beerensteyn, who had a hit on the shoe on her first contact with the ball. However, the attacker tapped the ball too far in front of him. Not much later Roord showed how to do it. The midfielder dribbled nicely past a number of opponents and made a nice hit with the left in the short corner. Beerensteyn also came on the scoreboard after she received the ball with some fortune in the depth. The tenth the Dutch goal came in the name of substitute Victoria Pelova, who scored on the pass of also substitute Renate Jansen.
Attention then seemed to wane with the the Dutch Women, which enabled Zambia to do something in return twice more. Both times it was Banda who hit the target. First, captain Van Veenendaal went around to hit the near post, before taking advantage of a huge mistake by Jansen, who was the last defender to lose the ball. Nevertheless, the the Dutch Women have a historic Olympic debut. Due to the monster victory, the Netherlands is leading the group. Brazil will be the opponent on Saturday, after which the third group match will take place against China on Tuesday.
Related
More sports news