The Orange Lionesses prepare for an Olympic squatter against the United States after a third consecutive goal ball: 8-2 victory over China. Substitute Vivianne Miedema scores twice

The Dutch footballers took first place in the group on Tuesday with the victory over China. The victory came with goals from Shanice van de Sanden, Lineth Beerensteyn (two), Lieke Martens (two), Vivianne Miedema (two) and Victoria Pelova.

After the 10-3 victory over Zambia and the 3-3 draw against Brazil, Orange was already assured of a place in the quarter-finals. The only question was who would be the opponent.

With a lower result, the Orange team should have faced Sweden in the quarter-finals, which surprisingly wiped the ground with America (3-0) in the opening match and finished at the top of the group.

“Give points? No of course not’

National coach Sarina Wiegman, however, had no intention of consciously appearing less strong. “Of course, it occurs to you that you prefer to meet these Americans a little later. But give points? No, of course no, we don’t. It’s always so dangerous to start calculating.

Van de Sanden put the Orange 1-0 at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama after twelve minutes. The fast striker did it after a nice through pass from Jackie Groenen, who more often appreciates the running actions of the fast striker.

About fifteen minutes later it was the same again. After the poor defense of Merel van Dongen, Shanshan Wang managed to outsmart Sari van Veenendaal with a slider. Moments later, the Orange team were very lucky that the hesitant performance of the same Van Veenendaal was not penalized after a quick Chinese corner.

Lineth Beerensteyn got the Orange back on track in the 37th minute. Miedema’s replacement, not fully in form, gave the Leeuwinnen the advantage with a shot from the far corner. In added time for the first half, she also made it 3-1, again with a ball well aimed at the far post.

Wissels

The big lead gave Wiegman the opportunity to give every core customer a rest in the second half. Van de Sanden, Lynn Wilms and Jill Roord remained in the locker room. They have been replaced by Renate Jansen, Kika van Es and Victoria Pelova.

However, the Netherlands continued where they left off and quickly came back to 4-1. Van Es put the ball in with his first ready ball contact for the header of Lieke Martens, who simply hit the target.

Miedeme

Wiegman allowed Miedema to participate in the final half hour and – how could it be – scored another goal. The fact that China always came back to 5-2 was a flaw, although an overly sour aftertaste was prevented as Martens, Pelova and Miedema managed to score the Dutch scorer to eight. Miedema now has 81 goals in 99 international matches. Hoogeveen’s goal machine is Orange’s all-time top scorer since 22nd.

Orange is very productive in this Olympic tournament. In three matches, no less than 21 goals have been scored. However, Wiegman should be concerned that Van Veenendaal had to fish a total of eight times against No. 104, 15 and 7 in the world as the clash with the United States approached.

An advantage: the USA are currently disappointing in Japan. After the loss to Sweden, the game was drawn against Australia: 0-0. Between the two, Team USA came out on top against New Zealand with a 6-1 victory.

The last time the Netherlands faced America was in November of last year. In an exhibition match in Breda, they lost 2-0 without a chance. In 2019, the World Cup final ended in the same numbers. Orange has played a total of ten times against the superpower and can only win two losses against eight. However, they date from a long time ago. In 1991 and 1996, the Netherlands were too strong for the Americans.