“Did I win the match for the Netherlands here?” Yara ten Holte repeated the question. The Dutch goalkeeper played a great game and achieved a stop percentage of no less than 40%. Yet she remained modest. “No, it’s not just me. I can’t do it without good coverage and our coverage was great.”
“Of course at some point I will take the extra balls, even without the cover, but if you have good cover, at a certain point you will get into the heads of the players and you can also stop the balls when the opponent comes towards you one on one.”
Of course, Ten Holte was proud that she was the big woman on the Dutch side on Monday evening, but she quickly looked ahead again. “We are now in the quarter-finals, the most important matches are just coming up and that’s where it has to happen. Everyone knows that. But of course this helps with self-confidence. This victory says that we can do a lot. We just beat the world champion.”
Where does Orange stand?
The joy after the final whistle was enormous among our compatriots. Yes, both countries were already assured of the quarter-finals prior to the match, but the victory over France is a huge boost for the team of national coach Henrik Signell and does a lot for their self-confidence.
The Dutch team had started the tournament well. All five matches were won by large margins, but more importantly: everyone had played minutes and emerged unscathed. But the Netherlands also knew that those first victories meant little in terms of content. Yes, the players showed an upward trend in recent matches, but the Dutch team had not yet been really tested. The opponents were simply too weak for that.
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The Netherlands would get more answers against France. Before the meeting, both countries were already certain of the quarter-finals, but Lois Abbingh insisted that her teammates should not regard the match as a ‘snack’. “This is the moment when we can train for the quarter-finals. We have often said that we need to get into a flow, and this match is a good opportunity for that. We can build up confidence here for Wednesday’s quarter-finals,” the captain said beforehand.
Very strong start for the Dutch team
And that worked extremely well. The Netherlands started very strong and immediately sent a clear signal to France. The Dutch team was anything but afraid of the world champion and quickly took the lead: 5-1. Reason for the French national coach to request a time-out after just a few minutes. The fans in Ahoy went a little more crazy with every Dutch goal when the Netherlands had a lead of five (8-3).
Although France started to get a little better in the match and the deficit was reduced little by little. Halfway through, the Dutch team was still in the lead: 14-13.
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Yara ten Holte excels under the bar
After the break, the French women quickly leveled the score, but the Dutch team kept a cool head. Halfway through the second half, the Netherlands had regained a three-goal lead (20-17). Ten Holte made an impression in goal. With some cat-like reflexes she prevented many French goals. France never came close to victory after that.
Larissa Nusser in action against world champion France. © Henk Seppen
The Dutch team avoids arch-rival Denmark in the quarter-finals
Thanks to the victory, the Dutch now avoid Denmark. The Danes eliminated the Netherlands at the Games last year and the Scandinavian women also put an end to the Dutch team’s medal dream at last year’s European Championships. The Netherlands will play the quarter-final against Hungary on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.
If the Netherlands wins that match, Olympic champion Norway will most likely be waiting in the semi-finals.
