When the referee blew her final whistle at Rotherham on Saturday night, it signalled the end of the Netherlands’ title defence and their 2022 Women’s Euros, at the early stage of the quarter-finals. France were their conquerors, a side those on the outside might have seen as favourites for this game despite their manager playing down expectations.
“The Netherlands are the defending champions,” head coach Corinne Diacre said before the match, which was won 1-0 in extra-time by an Eve Perisset penalty. “If there must be a favourite, it is them. We keep hearing that we can't get past the quarter-finals, so I doubt we'll be favourites.”
But those believing the odds were stacked the other way were looking at the present, not the past. For the Netherlands, that has been rocky.
Less than a year ago, the Oranje bid farewell to Sarina Wiegman, the coach that led them to the European title in 2017. In came Mark Parsons – a highly successful coach with a great reputation, but one with a totally different style in his first international job.
There have been difficult results as this team adapts - a pair of draws with the Czech Republic in their World Cup qualifying among them, as well as a 3-1 defeat to France in February and a 5-1 loss to England just last month.
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Since the Euros kicked off at the beginning of July, they’ve not had it easy, either. In their opening game with Sweden, they lost captain and first-choice goalkeeper Sari van Veenedaal to injury.
After that match, a 1-1 draw that had positives due to the way they grew into it, two of their stand-out performers contracted Covid – Manchester United midfielder Jackie Groenen and Vivianne Miedema, the serial record-breaking forward. Before the knockout stages, winger Lieke Martens, a Champions League winner, would also be sent home due to injury.
Getty“It was very tough,” Dominique Janssen, one of those who had to change positions between centre-back and left-back during the tournament due to injuries, admitted. “But in the end, I think it also brought our team closer together. We had to show that togetherness and I think it was important for us to show the character to go through to the next stage, to the quarter-finals. But in the end, it wasn't enough.”
That unity was evident in the defeat to France. The team defended admirably for large spells, throwing bodies on the line to keep a clean sheet that would take them to extra time. It was keeping the ball well enough to create their own chances that let them down.
This is a star-studded Netherlands side. No matter the transition period under Parsons, no matter the setbacks in this tournament, this is a disappointing exit.
There will be questions for Parsons to answer for it. He made a bold call in this quarter-final, with Jill Roord, the Wolfsburg midfielder who changed the game in that opener against Sweden, named on the bench.
“We do a deep analysis of everything after this tournament,” he said in his post-match press conference about that decision. “There is no time right now to have any regrets.”
Criticisms surrounded the lack of meaningful minutes for the younger players in the squad in the early games, too. In the 4-1 win over Switzerland that sealed the Netherlands' place in the knockout rounds, those future stars showed they are worth the opportunities.
Getty/GOALThat’s one of the huge positives this team can take forward. Daphne van Domselaar, the 22-year-old deputising for Van Veenendaal, has been sensational. “She’s my player of the tournament,” said forward Danielle van de Donk.
Romee Leuchter, Victoria Pelova and Esmee Brugts, the latter still only 18 years old, are among the other youngsters to have gained huge experience on the biggest stage this summer – and shone on it, too.
“I think it's something that we can definitely build on in the future,” Janssen believes.
Fairly assessing their tournament exit is difficult. This is a team going through a period of change and adaptation. It’s a team that has had to deal with a lot since arriving in England in July. It’s a team that had an incredibly tough quarter-final opponent, too.
But the lack of chances created and the dramatic extra-time defeat make this, as midfielder Sherida Spitse put it, “a painful night”, no matter the positives.
“I think it is a bit of both, really,” Van de Donk said when asked if there’s a feeling this team could do more or if it’s about accepting the transition period. “I hope we can do more than this but we're going through a lot and we had a lot of ups and downs this tournament. I guess it wasn't really ours.”
It’ll take some time for that to sink in for a team which was on such a high five years ago. Saturday certainly wasn’t a day for reflection and perspective.
But that day will come and there is plenty for Parsons’ Netherlands to build on. There’s also plenty to ponder, too.