Before halftime, the Netherlands tried in vain for a long time to breach the Belgian defense. A headed goal by Lieke Martens after fifteen minutes of play was disallowed for offside, but in the 34th minute it was Lineth Beerensteyn who scored the opening goal with a neat slider into the corner.
Offside, still scored
Shooting in the Dutch defense almost gave Belgium the equalizer a few minutes later, but the Dutch women reached halftime unscathed. Barely ten minutes after the restart, in the 54th minute, Beerensteyn scored again, from the rebound and in an offside position, but because there was no VAR, the goal was not disallowed.
The return of Vivianne Miedema in the 65th minute – the star player had been struggling with a serious knee injury for almost a year – did not immediately bring relief to the Dutch team. In the 80th minute she had a good chance to score the liberating goal, but the Belgian goalkeeper was in the way.
Egurrola twice
Damaris Egurrola was accurate with a header in extra time (3-0). Because England also scored a minute later in the match against Scotland, the Dutch team seemed to miss the top position in the group after all. But in the very last minute it was Egurrola again who hit the target with his head.
England won 6-0 and therefore finished on 12 points, just like the Dutch team. The goal difference of the Dutch team is slightly better (+8 to +7). The Dutch will compete with Germany and Spain in February for two Olympic tickets in the last four of the Nations League. France is also participating, but that team has already qualified for the Games as host country.
2023-12-05 21:41:08
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