(Football news) The Netherlands secured a narrow 3-2 victory over Portugal at the Leigh Sports Village to progress on top of Group C in the Euro 2022. The Dutch have been plagued by injuries and illnesses this week and would consider this victory to be a very good win against the second lowest ranked team in the tournament. They took the lead in the 7th minute through Damaris Egurrola and doubled their advantage nine minutes later when Stefanie van der Gragt’s header went into the back of the net. However, Portugal fought back to make it 2-2, showing incredible resilience to their early setback.
Portugal’s Carole Costa reduced the deficit from the penalty spot seven minutes before half-time when a VAR review found Dominique Janssen guilty of fouling Diana Silva in the box. It just took them two minutes into the second half to restore parity when Silva capitalised on an excellent cross from Costa to head the ball into the net. The Netherlands team appeared to have scored the winner when Jill Roord managed to score, only for VAR to rule it offside after a prolonged review. Eventually, they managed to find the breakthrough in the 62nd minute when Van de Donk collected the ball from the edge of the box and curled home a beautiful shot. The Netherlands will now play Switzerland in their last Group Stage match in Bramall Lane while Portugal will take on Sweden at the Leigh Sports Village with both matches scheduled on July 17th.
Speaking after the match, Netherlands boss Mark Parsons said “We are a good team but we are trying to become a great team. There is a lot to improve. It was not acceptable the way we started the second half but we showed great quality and character to regain the lead. We kept Portugal quiet in the last 20 minutes and it was important for us to close the game out against a team fighting for their life.” Portugal boss Francisco Neto said “I am proud of them and I think every person in Portugal should be proud of this team. At 2-2 we thought we could beat the champions of Europe. This means the women’s game in Portugal is growing.”
Also read: Euro 2022: Germany progress into the quarter finals after win over Spain
