Just before the crucial match of the Dutch team for Olympic participation, top scorer Vivianne Miedema sometimes feels her sensitive knee acting up again. Will she take risks in Spain? “I don’t want to do something now that will force me to stop in two years.”
Miedema shows a smile on Monday evening on the edge of the training field in Marbella. The striker is asked again how she is doing. And especially with her left knee, which she had surgery on more than a year ago. Can she start on Friday?
These are questions that concern everyone within and around the Dutch team towards the cracker against Spain. And that is not without reason. Miedema seemed to slowly get back to her old self last month when she started several times in the starting line-up for her club Arsenal. She also scored again.
But just when the most important international match of the year came into view, Miedema started to ail. She skipped two cup matches and played only fifteen minutes in the top match against Manchester United on Saturday.
There is no panic. In Marbella, Miedema is as down-to-earth as ever. “If someone hammers your knee and puts pins in it, it is logical that it sometimes feels a bit thick,” she says plainly. “It’s a bit of a struggle.” She was not on the training field on Monday because her flight from England was significantly delayed.
Without Vivianne Miedema, the Dutch team trained in Marbella on Monday. Photo: Getty Images
Miedema sometimes feels like her old self
Miedema had already taken into account the problem with her knee in advance. The Dutch team’s all-time top scorer knew that her recovery would take a long time and would not go up in a straight line. Rather with peaks and valleys.
Yet the current balancing act is also gnawing at her, fourteen months after the fatal moment. “I find it very difficult. I would prefer to play football for the entire match every time. I just have to look at the bigger picture. I am 27 years old. I don’t want to do something now that will force me to stop in two years.”
There are also days when Miedema feels like “the old ‘Viev'” again. Then she can play matches without restrictions. “And that’s great,” she says. But it is not realistic to think that she will reach her old level for a longer period of time, even though she is currently ‘normally’ match fit.
“I have always said that I will be top fit for the Olympic Games. I know it takes time. Anyone who has been through it knows that. I have to be patient. It would be nice if we qualify, otherwise we have nothing to it.”
Miedema participated for fifteen minutes with her club Arsenal in the top match against Manchester United on Saturday. Photo: Getty Images
Last minute decision
Yet Miedema is not going to take any unnecessary risks for the crucial match against the world champion. A win means participation in the Olympic Games for the Dutch team. “We have to see how I feel day by day. That is difficult, because Friday’s match could last longer than ninety minutes. We have to be smart.”
The decision whether Miedema can start will probably be made at the last minute by her and the medical staff. “I hope something before the warm-up,” says Miedema, with an ironic undertone.
“I can just have a bad day like that, so we have to wait and see. But that can also happen to everyone else. You can also get up and think: no way today. The only thing I’m focusing on now is recovering and getting ready for Friday.”
2024-02-19 21:00:04
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