2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, Featured, June 2019

Don’t know much, but hard not to like the “dark horse” Dutch at the FIFA World Cup

In Rennes, the Netherlands survived an incredible game with Japan, one that showed the Dutch are more than capable of winning the World Cup.

RENNES-

The heat was still blistering and the humid air suffocating as night fell at Roazhon Park on the banks of the river Vilaine, the orange sky slowly bleeding into darkness. In the stands and on the field below, everything was also swallowed in orange: orange-clad Dutch fans singing and screaming and willing their European champions, wearing all orange save their cleats, forward, even as things appeared to be going decidedly against them.

Japan, World Cup winners in 2011 and no stranger to the World Cup knockout stages, had wrested control of the game away from The Netherlands late in the first half, with Yui Hasegawa scoring one of the goals of the tournament. 

 

 

In an ode to the rich historic ironies of soccer, the second half sees Holland  play reactive football, content to loop hopeful balls over the top towards their talented front three of Lieke Martens, Vivianne Miedema and Shanice van de Sanden while Japan spend much of the second half playing a possession-based, position-switching, movement-based short passing style of football that recalls the “total football” style of Holland which revolutionized the sport in the 1970s. 

 

With ten minutes to play, the predominantly pro-Dutch crowd gasps when the ball falls to a diminutive Japanese-American named Yuma Momiki, a late substitute. Momiki takes a quick touch and fires low and hard towards the corner of the Dutch goal, only to have her excellent effort parried away the last instant by the strong fingertips of a  diving Sari van Veenendaal. 

Unfazed, Momiki nearly busts the door down minutes later, slipping a beauty of a pass through the Dutch defense to Narumi Miura, who arrives just a moment late, her errant effort flickering just over the net. 

Nevertheless, at that moment, it appeared as if Japan’s winner was only a matter of time, and all the pundits who doubted the Netherlands chances of making noise entering this World Cup would be vindicated. 

After the Miura miss, as the Dutch fans continue to dance and sing below, the Roazhon Park monitors flash quickly to Netherlands manager Sarina Wiegman, who, arms akimbo, tilts her head upward and glances at the time.

The hour is late. Are the Dutch out of answers? What is Dutch football without tragic, beautiful failure?

 

*** *** ***

Much has been made of the Dutch fans at this wonderful World Cup, from the dancing throngs in the streets ahead of each of their group stage matches to the impromptu Dutch brass bands that flocked and filled the FIFA fan zones with song and music. 

 

 

“We’ve come to see our champions,” Nina Heizinga, an attorney from Eindhoven says over breakfast the morning of the octofinal. Traveling with her husband Piotr, they arrived in France the weekend the World Cup began and plan to see it through to the end.

“We didn’t have a chance in Russia, of course (Holland failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup), but we would have chosen France regardless. What’s not to love about this team? They are young, they are brave. They get knocked down and quickly back up. They press, they score. It’s irresistible.”

In a great piece penned by Sarah Lyall in the New York Times, she rightly notes that the Dutch fans have come in huge numbers  to win, of course, but with the usual friendly and warm sense of Dutch grace. 



“Showing anyone up wouldn’t be the Dutch way,” Piotr, who was educated in the United States and works in finance, tells me. “It’s a celebration of joy, not just from winning, but from football.”

The Netherlands, though, have done plenty of winning, which makes it all the more odd they’ve flown under the radar, both in France and in pre-tournament hype and attention. 

 

Holland stunned the soccer world winning the European Championship in 2017, but the accomplishment has oddly been diminished due to The Netherlands winning as hosts.

 

Holland won the European Championship in 2017, shortly after Wiegman took over, winning six games and surrendering only three goals in the process, but for whatever reason, the accomplishment was mostly written off: a one-off product related more to being tournament hosts than of Holland improving, developing and emerging as a women’s soccer power. 

These narratives lingered, despite the Dutch having only two players over thirty and a young core of stars who have, in the main, played better since that European Championship.

As a result of this framing, the Dutch were largely labeled as a tournament darkhorses: capable, to be sure– but not quite on the same plane as tournament favorites such as France, England, Germany and the United States. On French TV, the coverage fixated on England, the US, Germany and France: “les quatre favoris”, one commentator constantly bellowed.

But short shrift was given Holland away from France as well.

 

In the States, treatment of the Dutch chances was as dismissive, wheere Holland was: merely a darkhorse,  a team on the verge but not quite capable of greatness, a  promising interloper, or an attacking-rich team that doesn’t really defend.

Undoubtedly, the four teams mentioned above were worthy favorites. 

France, eliminated Friday, were the hosts, with midfield maestro Amandine Henry and a golden generation expecting to finally make a breakthrough. Only a fool would have dismissed them out of hand.

The United States are the reigning World Champions, and the Americans arrived in France with a chip on their shoulder after quarterfinal failure at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. The US put thirteen goals on Thailand in the opener and have captivated their country and the world in this sport for two decades. That call is obvious.

Germany have been giants of Europe forever and their dominance in the group stage, where they were hardly pushed, made them appear formidable. Their history and roster, along with the prospect of a healthy Dzsenifer Marozsan looming later in the tournament, made them difficult to dismiss before Saturday night’s surprising elimination.

Finally, England had won the elite SheBelieves Cup with ease in the United States this spring. With a brilliant defense anchored by Steph Houghton and Lucy Bronze, the technical mastery of winger Nikita Parris, and the goalscoring chops of Ellen White, it was and is easy to fall in love with the Lionesses. 

 

Still, seven of the eight World Cup quarterfinalists  were from Europe, and Holland are the reigning champions of the continent. On that basis alone, excluding them as pre-tournament favorites in a tournament held on European soil seems odd.

Perhaps some of the pre-tournament dismissal as to do with the struggle to qualify– Holland were forced into a tricky playoff and had to defeat fellow European finalist Denmark simply to get to France.

But Lieke Martens, the team’s prolific winger who was the best player at the 2017 Euro and the 2017 FIFA World Women’s Player of the Year, thinks that is more about a vastly improved Europe than anything her team has done.

“Qualifying is now in many ways more difficult than the challenges at the World Cup itself,” Martens said. “In our group, there was much quality. But we are accustomed to facing quality. When we lost or had to go through a playoff,  I give more credit to the quality of opponents. It was rarely about us. But it prepared us for these challenges.”

 

*** *** *** 

The gauntlet that is European football certainly prepared Holland for what they faced late in their octofinal match against Asian Champion  Japan.

 

It’s never easy in a World Cup, let alone in sweltering conditions, where the heat and grind of chasing a game for much of 90 minutes causes cramping, acid buildup and intense fatigue. Japan are winning almost every 50-50 ball down the stretch, and by and large, the game is being played in the Dutch half of the park.

In the final five minutes, needing a spark, Wiegman goes to her bench, removing an exhausted van de Donk, who to that point had been the Oranje’s best player. It’s a risk, especially if the game moves to extra time, where van de Donk’s excellence and precision passing could be critical, and everyone in the building knows it, including van de Donk, who shakes her head as she sees the fourth official and her number calling her off the field. 

 

Martens penalty, drawn against the run of play on a handball of a shot by Vivianne Miedema, sent Holland’s players- and throngs of supporters- into rapture.

 

Less than two minutes later, Holland win the ball in a scrum and ping a pass towards another one of their transcendental young talents, Lineth Beerensteyn. The Dutch attacker beats a defender and as help comes, she lays off in traffic towards Miedema, who smashes the ball through traffic towards the Japan goal. The shot deflects harmlessly off Japanese captain Saki Kumagai’s right arm and almost immediately, referee Melissa Borjas points to the spot. After VAR review confirms the obvious penalty, Martens steps up cooly to take it.

The former World Player of the Year hadn’t had the most convincing group stage,  but that hasn’t mattered against Japan. She’s been everywhere, pressuring Japan’s defense with menacing off-ball movement and scoring Holland’s lone goal. The penalty is more brilliance, a perfectly placed ball in the bottom right of the net after sending the keeper the wrong way.

Minutes later, the whistle blows, and thousands of Dutch fans exhale in relief. Holland have survived, advancing to their first Women’s World Cup quarterfinal. The brass bands will play on.

 

After the game, both Martens and her manager reflect on the journey.

“We’ve made history,” Martens tells the assembled media. “Japan are a great team and played like champions. It was a world class game. In the end, it came down to a penalty. I asked (midfielder Sherida) Spitse if I could take it- she usually would- and she said I should.  It felt good when I hit it and when the keeper moved the wrong way, we’d won.”

“When we won, I wanted to have the players stand in a circle and soak it in for a moment. I wanted them to embrace making history, to be happy. And I told them, let’s continue making history.”

 

*** *** ***

 

The Dutch might make history, even if no one (yet) has seemed to give them much of a chance.

Even as the Dutch sang, danced, gegenpressed and altogether cruised through a tough group seemingly in second-gear, the narrative that they weren’t quite one of the true contenders changed little.

“We played well as a team in the group stages, to be sure,” Wiegman said ahead of the Japan match. “To win all three matches in a competitive group was good but what was better is we’ve adapted better, become a more cohesive team and not one so reliant on individual brilliance.”

Wiegman’s right. 

 

In many ways, Martens and her Dutch teammates are a much better team than their European winning unit, even if the world has been slow to notice. In SB Nation’s list of the top fifty players at the Women’s World Cup, only three Dutch players made the cut (Martens, attacking midfielder Danielle van de Donk and Martens), a far lower number than any of the other big tournament favorites.

Yes, the attacking trio of Martens, van de Senden and Miedema are the most stunning of Holland’s players. In the quarterfinal Saturday against Italy, Miedema’s slicing runs finally broke the Italian defense, giving the Dutch a lead they would never relinquish.

A nearly unmarkable blend of pace and power,  Miedema tallied 31 goals in only 27 games leading Arsenal to the Super League title. Her quarterfinal tally was her  61st career goal for The Netherlands, a mind-boggling feat given she’s only 22-years-old. 

 

 



But as brilliant as she’s been and Martens can be, the lion’s share of the credit for the team’s run through the World Cup group stages and now to the semifinals, where they will play Sweden, who upset pre-tournament favorite Germany, should go to the young, underappreciated midfield.

Dutch midfielder Jackie Groenen has brought steel and calm to the Dutch midfield, quietly one of the World Cup’s best performances.

 

Of that trio, Jackie Groenen has been the most consistent Dutch player on the field in each game and in truth, one of the best players at this World Cup.

Even when Martens struggled with man-marking against Canada, or Miedema disappeared for much of the Japan game, Groenen churned on, chasing Japan’s attackers relentlessly and leading the side in tackles and challenges won. 

In Holland’s 2-0 win over Italy in the quarterfinals, Groenen played beautifully, completing 45 passes (third on the team) and again leading the team in tackles and challenges won. A tissue thin 5’5, Groenen was a decorated JUDO athlete as a child, and she plays with a fearlessness that belies her size, flying confidently into tackles and challenges. But she’s become more than a gifted ball-winner. Always a quality dribbler, comfortable with the ball at her feet in traffic, she’s become a  good passer from deep positions, a vastly improved area in her game since the European championship. 

 

“Watching (Groenen) grow as a passer, become a more complete player, has been special. She’s always read the game well but she’s become a player who can retain the ball and win the ball, which is what the best midfielders do,” Wiegman says of her midfielder before the Japan match.

Groenen’s growth as a ball-retainer and distributor have helped the Dutch survive a tournament where Shanice van de Sanden has been poor, too often forcing one on one battles she loses or careless in possession. Having the steady Groenen behind her has been an insurance policy, one that has limited the impact of lost possession on the break.

The Dutch are young, but loaded with global stars and an improving supporting cast behind them. What’s more, they have a country behind them, with an FA that’s invested heavily in the women’s game and a fan base that supports them unflinchingly. 

“It took a while for women’s football to catch on,” Heizinga admits in Rennes. “But then we hosted the EURO, and people saw this team play and the personalities behind it. Now we love them, and of course, they haven’t broken our hearts like the men. That can’t hurt.”

 

With the semifinals looming, Holland remains the most storied footballing nation in the world without a World Championship, and this Holland team wasn’t expected to change that.

Don’t be surprised if the reigning champions of Europe have other ideas.

Neil W. Blackmon is co-founder of The Yanks Are Coming. Follow him on Twitter @nwblackmon. 

Written by: Neil W. Blackmon on June 29, 2019.
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