The Netherlands are on course for the quarter-finals of the Women’s EURO thanks to their first win in the second game. The reigning European champions showed a surprising amount of effort against a rebellious Portugal to score the budgeted three points.
Only a stroke of genius by Danielle van de Donk after about an hour calmed the nerves of the Dutch fans. The striker caught the ball on the edge of the area and beat Ines Pereira in the Portugal goal with a superb shot into the top corner to make it 3-2.
Portugal makes up for 2-0 deficit
Compared to the opening game against Sweden (1-1), Dutch coach Mark Parsons was forced to make four changes. Despite the changes caused by injury, the big favorites didn’t need any teething troubles against Portugal – on the contrary.
Less than seven minutes were played in Leigh when Damaris Egurrola nodded off a corner kick for an early lead. The Lyon mercenary was one of the new players in the starting XI. Less than ten minutes later, Pereira had to reach behind her a second time. After the people in front had only insufficiently cleared a corner kick, Stefanie van der Gragt also increased the lead to 2:0 with a header.
The team had already shown in the 2-2 win against Switzerland that Portugal would not be discouraged by an early 0-2 deficit. And the Iberians promptly fought back against the defending champion. Thanks to a foul penalty, the outsider from Portugal scored the goal in the first half (38′) by Carole Costa. Shortly after the restart, Diana Silva scored the much-acclaimed equalizer.
Because the immediate opening goal of the Netherlands was rightly disallowed for offside, Portugal even sniffed at 3: 2. Only Van de Donk should put a spanner in the works for the Portuguese.
Here’s how to proceed
The Netherlands are tied at the top of the table with Sweden thanks to their mandatory victory in Group C. At the end of the group phase, the “Elftal” will compete against Switzerland at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, at the same time Portugal will be fighting Sweden in Leigh for the quarter-final ticket.