Thursday, July 29, 2021 at 09:59• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 11:06

There seems to be a lot of optimism among the the Dutch Lionesses in the run-up to the meeting with the United States in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games. The reigning world champions started the group stage with a 0-3 loss to Sweden and eventually made it to the last eight with just four points. Team USA is no longer as strong as two years ago, judges Lieke Martens a day before the race.

“It is no longer the unbeatable USA that everyone looks up to,” said the optimistic Martens in an interview with The Telegraph. “We have a lot of respect for them, absolutely, but we think this is the tournament where we are going to kick them out. We are certainly not in awe of them anymore.” Nevertheless, the numbers are not in favor of the Netherlands, because of the ten previous meetings, no fewer than eight were won by the United States.

The the Dutch Lionesses lost the World Cup final to the American women in 2019 and last year they lost in a friendly international match with the same figures. “But at this tournament I think they make less impression than before,” concludes national coach Sarina Wiegman. “They are the number one in the world and still have a very good team, but it is different from the World Cup. They seem a bit searching, it is all a bit more difficult. They have scored four points in three group matches and played in the last game on a draw. I don’t know them like that.”

Wiegman, who has made a plan for the attacking game of the United States, is not worried about Vivianne Miedema. The top scorer was still on the bench at the beginning of Tuesday against China (8-2 win) due to minor groin complaints. “Vivianne is fit and can just play,” the national coach assures. “America always wants to eat the striker of the opponent, they can do that nicely. But we think we have found something for that. It sounds very mysterious, but it is not higher mathematics. You will see that on Friday,” he said. Wiegman, who has a lot of confidence in a place in the semi-finals. “Now is the time when we can beat America, that’s how we really feel.” The quarter-final game starts on Friday at 1 p.m. Dutch time.