The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsNEW ZEALAND 0 HOLLAND 1
A sea of red turned orange as debutant’s Holland took on the All-Blacks New Zealand in the second match of Group A. In a disjointed contest both sides were understandably nervous at the beginning, as knowing defeat would pile on added pressure to gain enough points from their remaining games to qualify for the knockout stage.
Holland thought they had broken the deadlock after the quarter-hour mark as Dutch midfielder Danielle van de Donk had put the ball in the Kiwis’ net but to be ruled out for offside. Roger Reijens’ side did however take the lead after a superb curling shot by Lieke Martens went past the outstretched reach of Kiwi’s Goalkeeper Erin Naylor after the half-hour mark.
Kiwi full-back Ria Percival did fire a free-kick from a far which did looks as if it would creep in but for Dutch goalkeeper Loes Geurts to palm to safety as New Zealand huffed and puffed but ultimately could not find the equaliser they so desperately needed to avoid such an early set-back in their attempts to finally progress further then the group stages.
New Zealand: 4-3-3: E. Naylor, R. Percival, R. Scott, A. Erceg (c), A. Longo, K. Duncan, K. Bowen (72′ B. Hassett), H. Wilkinson, A. Hearn, S. Gregorious (67′ J. Pereira).
Holland: 4-2-3-1: L. Geurts, D. van Lunteren, S. van der Gragt, M. van den Berg (c), P. Hogewoning, A. Dekker (84′ T. Middag), S. Spitze, M. Vidarsdottir, D. van de Donk, L. Martens (90’+2 K. van de Ven), V. Miedema (82′ S. van de Sanden.
LVG Player of the Match: Lieke Martens (Holland)
