Ambitious France counts their chances against the tournament holders the Netherlands in an exciting clash in the quarterfinal stage of the Women’s Euro 2022.
Les Bleues were held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland in the final group stage game while the Dutch struggled against Switzerland even after winning 4-1 on the day to seal qualification to the last four.
FRA vs NED Match Details
Date: Saturday, 23rd July 2022/ Sunday, 24th July 2022
Time: 20:00 (BST)/ 00:30 (IST)
Venue: NY Stadium, Rotherham
FRA vs NED Match Preview
Corinne Diarce’s side had already secured qualification to the quarterfinal before they took on Iceland in the last group stage game. With nothing riding on the game, France eased through despite not making it three wins out of three in the group stage. One of the candidates to win the Golden Boot, Marie-Antoinette Katoto got ruled out of the tournament through a knee injury in the second game with Melvine Malard stepping up instead. The Lyon striker scored the fastest goal in Women’s Euro history in just 43 seconds showing the extraordinary depth France have in the attack. The stoppage-time penalty from Dagny Brynjarsdottir levelled the score line but it was France throughout having a number of strikes ruled out through offside. Les Bleues started the tournament in brilliant fashion destroying Italy 5-1 in the first and edging out Belgium courtesy of their lavish attacking players. Including the now injured Katoto, the front three have scored half of the eight goals scored with each of them finding the net once. However, France failed to score in the second half of those games and conceded twice in those halves something for Diarce to think about. The team will try badly not to have another slip-off in the quarterfinal stage after not getting past it in their competition history. In fact, the French have never made it to the semifinals of a major competition in the last three attempts with Diarce on the sideline in each of them. They face a stern test against the defending champions of the tournament so France might want to click on their gears with an immensely talented team set to make a benchmark in years to come. A first semifinal outing cannot taste sweeter.
The Netherland had a lot of problems to tackle in the group stages. Injuries and then Covid caused a disruption in their set mentality yet the first phase of the tournament was cleared. The holders struggled to get into the true rhythm of their past two major competitions, needing a second-half equalizer to avoid defeat against Sweden and a winner to decide a 3-2 thriller against Portugal despite scoring two goals in the opening twenty minutes of the game. The final game against Switzerland proved to be the toughest one and if not for the young goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar making an excellent close-range stop from Coumba Sow, the Dutch could have been sent packing. An own goal in the second half put the Dutch ahead only for Geraldine Reuteler to restore parity from Ramona Bachmann’s pass. The PSG forward toyed with the Spanish defence whenever she went forward and also laid the pass for the miss from Sow. The fresh legs towards the end made all the difference for the Dutch though with Romee Leuchter’s brace paving the way for a 4-1 victory. The quality of opponents increases from here so the Netherlands need to step up their game. Vivianne Miedema’s return from Covid could give them the drive required knowing she has produced excellence mostly in the knockout stages. Yet to score a goal, the number nine found the back of the net three times all coming after the group stages. So, the holders are hopeful for her to fire again facing a strong team in France at the stage they have prevailed in two of the four editions of the Euros and in consecutive major competitions. The loss of Lieke Martens means Jill Roord and Van de Donk have an additional responsibility to provide the necessary service.
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FRA: DWWWW
NED: WWDWL
FRA vs NED Team News
Star striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto was substituted early in the second group game against Belgium, a move thought to be a precautionary one. The worst fear came true when France confirmed the PSG player will miss the rest of the tournament with a serious knee injury. Lyon’s Melvine Malard will continue in the striker position in place of Katoto. Fortunately, there is no other crisis for France to be concerned about ahead of the quarterfinal game. Manager Corinne Diarce will bring back Mbock Bathy in defence and Grace Geyoro in midfield into the starting eleven for this one.
Record scorer Vivianne Miedema has finally joined the training with her teammate after recovery from Covid, the news the Netherlands desperately wanted before the huge clash. Arsenal’s goal-thirsty striker missed the last two games in the group stages and has yet to open her account in the tournament. The blow for the Dutch is that winger Lieke Martens will not play any further part in the tournament after sustaining a foot injury in the win over Switzerland. Coach Mark Parsons called Martens’s injury terrible news for the side with no replacement made at this stage of the tournament. Goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal has already been ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury. The Netherlands also have a number of players only a booking away from missing the semifinals if progressed.
FRA vs NED Predicted lineups
FRA: Peyraud-Magnin; Eve Perisset, Mbock Bathy, Wendie Renard, Sakina Karchaoui; Clara Matéo, Charlotte Bilbault, Grace Geyoro; Kadidiatou Diani, Melvine Malard, Delphine Cascarino
NED: Van Domselaar; Lynn Wilms, Van der Gragt, Aniek Nouwen, Dominique Janssen; Jackie Groenen, Jill Roord, Sherida Spitse; Van de Donk, Vivianne Miedema, Romee Leuchter
FRA vs NED Head to Head
The holders don’t have a healthy record in this meeting with just one win to show for in the last four clashes. It came back in 2015, the Dutch claiming a 2-1 win. France have stepped up from there and beaten the Dutch twice next on either side of a mind-blowing 3-3 draw in their backyard.
FRA vs NED Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Van Domselaar (8.5)
DEF: Perisset (8.5), Van der Gragt (9), Renard (9), Karchaoui (8.5)
MID: Geyoro (9.5), Spitse (8.5), Van de Donk (9)
FW: Roord (9.5), Diani (9.0), Cascarino (9)
Captain: Grace Geyoro (France)
Vice-captain: Kadidiatou Diani (France)
Van Domselaar was excellent between the sticks for the Netherlands in the final group game making seven saves as well as being a passing outlet from the back maintaining accuracy of 86%.
Van der Gragt forced the own goal for the Dutch lead in the win over Switzerland and already has a goal in the tournament. She also delivered an assist.
Wendie Renard has made more accurate long passes per 90 than any other player in the tournament with a pass success rate of 91.1%.
Sakina Karchaoui has produced two assists for France from left-back.
Roord, Diani and Cascarino have one goal each in the tournament while the Lyon star has averaged the most successful dribbles per 90.
