The Netherlands enjoyed a winning start to what promises to be an exciting debut World Cup campaign after a stunning 33rd minute strike from Lieke Martens was enough to seal all three points against New Zealand. The defeat for The Kiwis meant they have now not won in 10 World Cup outings.
Despite a later kick off, and therefore a subsequent drop in temperature, this game lacked the fiery intensity of the day’s opening encounter between Canada and China. Much of the game’s action was to be found in the opening 45 minutes, with the second half tapering out into a somewhat dull affair.
The Netherlands opened the game the brightest, and had the ball in the back of the net by the 26th minute. However, Danielle Van de Donk’s strike was ruled out for offside and the game remained all square, albeit not for long.
Just after the half hour mark, Martens would make her impact on the game, for which she would be given the Player of the Match award. The 22 year old striker cut in from the left and let fly with a stunning strike from the egde of the area, which found the far corner. It was goal worthy of winning any game and was quite a way to open your nations account at such a prestigious tournament.
New Zealand came back into the game and tested veteran keeper Loes Geerts on a number of occasions. Most significantly when Kiwi fullback Ria Percival’s free kick looked to be looping into the far corner but was clawed away by the Dutch stopper, leaving the Netherlands able to take their slender, deserved lead into half time.
The second half was a scrappy and disjointed affair with little by way of goal mouth action. Clearly the heaviness of the pitch and humid atmosphere were becoming more of a factor as the game wore on. The Dutch team seemed more and more comfortable to sit on their lead, whilst the Black Ferns became reliant on set pieces, which the Lionesses dealt with all too easily.
The victory for the Netherlands gives them a fantastic opportunity to get out of the group stages and a win against China on Thursday, would pile real pressure on their likely group A rivals Canada, who play New Zealand three hours later. The Kiwis will likely have to get a positive result from that game to have any real chance of progression to their first ever World Cup knockout stages.
