Dutch team beat Scotland by more than two points: “It’s underrated”

Dutch football players continue their race to win the group title in the Nations League and qualify for the Olympic Games. In fact, the Dutch team, which recently defeated second-placed England after their disappointment against Belgium, has matters in its own hands.

“Yes, that’s nice, you always want that,” Lieke Martens effortlessly kicked in the open door. However, the experienced attacker does not forget to consider the truth. It’s nice to surprise England but it’s no use if you can’t win games against weaker nations.

For example against Scotland, tonight in Nijmegen and Tuesday in Glasgow.

“These are challenges. That’s why it’s important that we start the game quickly on Friday, keep everything under control and be effective,” explains Martens, who recently guided his club Paris Saint-Germain into the group stage of the Champions League with two goals against Manchester United. The Champions League helped.

“It sounds easy,” he continues, “but it’s not. We must not forget that women’s football has developed so much that we have not beaten Scotland twice. This is underrated. But I think we should get good results with the quality of our team.”

Absolute superior performance

Scotland shone in a narrow defeat against England at Sunderland a month ago. “They performed absolutely brilliantly and actually lost 2-1,” said national coach Andries Jonker.

“You deserve at least one point. This shows where Scotland stands. An excellent team that is developing very well. “It is one of many countries that are quickly rising to the top.”

Martens, who scored and assisted against England, can only confirm this. “There are a lot of good individually players in Scotland that we need to keep an eye on. But first of all we need to take care of ourselves. We must take care of the ball and move the game forward. “We have to create a lot of chances.” It would be so nice.”

The Dutch team needs to do this with a team that has three question marks. It is clear what lies behind the name Vivianne Miedema, who has just returned from a serious knee injury. However, it is not yet known how the recovery will be for Wieke Kaptein, who suffered shoulder pain after falling in training, and Victoria Pelova, who was sick.

“With us it’s all black and white”

The latest question mark came at the wrong time for Jonker. After all, he must also be without regular player Dominique Janssen in defence. Without right winger Pelova, the defensive puzzle to solve becomes even more difficult for the 61-year-old from Amsterdam.

“Yes, but now I know what everyone can do.” He doesn’t seem too worried. “Many players can play in different positions. Many players play at a high level in a good club. Of course, this is a secret because it is different than usual, but we will definitely find a solution.”

Perhaps the bigger mission is to protect the team from being taken for granted. “The group now knows what I think about it,” replies the national coach. “And how the group works has been confirmed many times. If we do what we have to do against such countries, if we use our chances well and don’t miss anything, we will always win. But if we don’t.” “We lose every time.”

“Everything is very black and white for us. But everyone knows what to do: Do ​​not underestimate such countries even for a moment, take them very seriously, play at full speed, get closer to the top. Then everything will be fine.” Ok.”

Source: NOS

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