England 3-2 Netherlands
Impetus’ Beth McCowen was in the Wembley Stadium press box with Grace Jones’ pitch side supplying exclusive photography from last night’s UEFA Women’s Nations League match (2/12/23).
Above: Rachel Daly challenges the Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar last night. Photo: Grace Jones for Impetus.
Ella Toone’s strike in stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes sealed a sensational comeback win for the Lionesses who had trailed 2-0 at halftime after a below-par performance in the opening 45 minutes.
The first chance of the match came quickly, with a cross from Lauren Hemp to Lauren James for the Lionesses, but the header went wide. The opening five minutes saw Wiegman’s side look dominant, with the stakes glaringly high.
The momentum shifted in the Netherlands’ favour, and the 11th minute saw the visiting side open the scoreline. The visitors finally got the ball into their attacking half, immediately creating a big chance. England’s defence was messy, failing to stop Lineth Beerensteyn’s powerful strike from reaching the back of the net.
With another chance in quick succession, the away side rocketed towards goal again. England’s captain Mary Earps made a huge clearance from the edge of her box to prevent Jonker’s team from furthering their lead. The Netherlands had found their pace and were making it increasingly difficult for the Lionesses to launch a counterattack.
The backline of the Netherlands formed a strong barrier between the Lionesses and the Dutch number one, Daphne van Domselaar. Their captain, Sherida Spitse, was particularly instrumental in winning the ball back. England’s defence, meanwhile, was clearly under a lot of pressure.
In the 35th minute, following a tense build-up in and around the box, the visitors created another good opportunity, and Beerensteyn made it a two-goal lead for the away side with an assist from Victoria Pelova, as the end of the first half approached. Beerensteyn was consistently impressive, and her performance was helped by top quality delivery into the area from her teammates. The Lionesses’ backline and their goalkeeper did not appear to be at their best, and coming back from this was not set to be an easy task.
The Netherlands were tight in their defence with lots of bodies in the box any time their opposition appeared threatening. England remained behind at the break.
The opening minutes of the second half saw England work their way towards goal, but fail to make something of these openings. The Lionesses appeared somewhat lost without Millie Bright leading their backline. They also, of course, still await the return of key player Leah Williamson following her ACL injury.
Finally, in the 57th minute, Georgia Stanway set the home side back on track with a header following a smoothly delivered cross by the technically brilliant James. Stanway was in good form and had been fighting hard to keep the ball in possession despite the imposing presence of her opposition in the midfield.
Just a couple of minutes later, Hemp (with an excellent finish) provided England with the equalizer, as the Netherlands’ previously indestructible defence looked slightly startled.
The Netherlands’ goalkeeper prevented a hopeful England from taking the lead in the 69th minute, making an important clearance. Van Domselaar was fearless and demonstrated outstanding technical ability in her shot-stopping, her distribution of the ball, and her command over their defenders. She quickly made another impressive save as Wiegman’s side were relentless in attack.
Esme Morgan, a substitute brought on by Wiegman just after the 60-minute mark, denied Beerensteyn a hat-trick as she successfully blocked a shot from the forward in the 77th minute.
The pinpoint accuracy shown by Jonker’s side earlier on in the game was now missing, and the English capitalised on this, refusing to allow the Netherlands a third goal, and seeking one of their own. Danielle van de Donk exited the pitch due to injury in the 85th minute, and the Dutch side looked slightly less cohesive.
The star of the show for Jonker’s side, Beerensteyn, made another break for goal. This time with Lucy Bronze’s intervention, England kept the score level and were desperate to take what had been a drastic improvement on their first-half performance even further.
Earps made a huge save in the 88th minute, denying a stellar Lieke Martens the chance to regain the lead for the Netherlands. In the next minute, Morgan proved herself as something of a super-sub by keeping Beerensteyn away from goal once again.
Reinforcing the valuable role of substitutions in England’s play, Ella Toone delivered a beautiful goal, giving the Lionesses a last-minute winner over a strong Netherlands side. A last-ditch fast-break from the Dutch was prevented by Morgan, and following the five minutes of added time, the final whistle went.
The atmosphere at Wembley was electric as England’s Lionesses narrowly kept their hopes of competing in Paris 2024 alive, and threatened the often-untouchable Netherlands. It is now all to play for next week. To keep qualification hopes alive in their game against Scotland, England must beat the Netherlands score against Belgium by at least three goals. They would then need to finish at least third in the final stages of the Nations League competition. There is a lot of hard work still to be done.
More of Grace Jones’ exclusive photos from Wembley Stadium for Impetus
Teams: ENGLAND (4-3-3): Earps, Bronze, Charles, Walsh, Greenwood, Carter, Kelly, Stanway, Kirby, James, Hemp. Substitutes: Morgan, Hampton (GK), Toone, Wubben-Moy, Zelem, Mead, Clinton, Daly, Le Tissier, Keating (GK), Turner, Russo.
Scorers: Stanway 57’, Hemp 59’, Toone 90+1’.
NETHERLANDS (4-3-3): van Domselaar, Dijkstra, Roord, Beerensteyn, Spitse, Van de Donk, Martens, Groenen, Pelova, Janssen, Brugts. Substitutes: Lorsheyd (GK), Weimar (GK), Casparu, Damaris, van Dongen, Jansen, Kaptein, Leuchter, Miedema, Van de Sanden, Snoeijs, Wilms.
Scorers: Beerensteyn 11’, 35′.
Referee: Tess Olofsson (SWE).
Attendance: 71,632.
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