Sharing with the domestic press, coach Andries Jonker affirmed that he wants the Netherlands to win big against the Vietnamese women's team on August 1 to win the top spot in Group E of the 2023 World Cup.
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| Vietnam women's team players in the opening match of the 2023 Women's World Cup. (Source: VFF) |
Sharing with NOS (Netherlands), coach Andries Jonker of the Dutch women's team said: "The Netherlands needs to win to qualify. But that's not all. We need to do everything possible to win big and take first place in Group E.
The best runners-up will go through, but it's best if we win our group. Let's see who we could face in the last 16: Sweden, Italy or South Africa. Sweden are stronger in theory, so we want to avoid them."
After two matches in Group E of the 2023 World Cup, the US is leading the group with 4 points (4-1 difference) and the Netherlands also has 4 points (2-1 difference), ranking second. Portugal is in third place with 3 points and the Vietnamese women's team has no points.
In the final match of Group E, taking place at 2:00 p.m. on August 1, the US will face Portugal while the Netherlands will face the Vietnamese women's team in New Zealand. Although they only need a draw to qualify for the round of 16, the Netherlands wants to win by a large margin against the Vietnamese women's team to secure the top spot in the group.
According to the round of 16 bracket, the winner of Group E will meet the runner-up of Group G and the winner of Group G will meet the runner-up of Group E. In Group G, Sweden is sure to top the group after beating South Africa 2-1 and Italy 5-0. Therefore, the Netherlands wants to avoid the powerful representative from Northern Europe in the next round, so they need to top Group E.
Full-back Esmee Brugts also wants the Netherlands to get a good result against the Vietnamese women's team: "Every match I play a little better. In the match against Portugal, I was under pressure because it was my debut at the World Cup. But then I somewhat relieved the pressure.
Facing the US in the second match, I was also under pressure and nervous. But I received support from my teammates. I played safely and the 1-1 draw was important. I hope to score in the next match against Vietnam."
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