Today Valenciennes was an orange sea and the wave of traveling assistance from the Netherlands helped their team finally get along. Vivianne Miedema will be leading the way, scoring the all-time goalscoring record in her nation twice, but the Netherlands did not have all its way, especially after the dangerous Gabrielle Onguene equalized in advance of halftime.

“I’m glad we won. In a couple of stages we played better than the previous game but we struggled as well. We started out really well, we had a couple of breakthroughs on the right but the pass never came. Towards the end of the first half, we got a little messy and lost the ball very often. That long ball that came from so far away, that was very dangerous. We scored before half-time and you want to build on that, but suddenly it’s 1-1. Thankfully we scored again after half-time and that was nice.”
Sarina Wiegman, Netherlands coach

Cameroon had to keep it tight after the hiatus to stay with the chance, but they didn’t do it and Dominique Bloodworth’s objective was finally essential before Miedema put it down late. The Netherlands qualifies for knockout phases in sequence for the Second World Cup, but they understand that they must enhance as the tournament continues.

“Valenciennes is very close to the Netherlands, so we were disadvantaged in this respect. We weren’t able to play an hour away from Holland and it not affect our team on a psychological level. In terms of the game, I think we did what we could. I am satisfied. We have one game left and we’re going to bet on doing our best in this game.”
Alain Djeumfa, Cameroon coach

Now, for the Netherlands, Vivianne Miedema scored 60 goals. A goal score record, she celebrates her 23rd birthday in July.

“It will be celebrated not in a big way, but it will be talked about. It is something special, something I’m only going to live once and it’s a special experience for me. It’s a World Cup – you score a goal, so I think you can cheer and be a little crazy about it. It’s a special moment and I made a deal with my brother to make a roll on the pitch. Maybe that won’t happen again next time. No more gymnastics!”
Vivianne Miedema, Player of the Match

Image: Kane Oosty/FIFA