PThe Netherlands pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the U-20 Women’s World Cup, beating France 2-1 at the Atanasio Girardot stadium, and will face Colombia in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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France were the favourites to make it to the quarter-finals and they made things easier early on, taking the lead with a goal from Maria Mossard in the 33rd minute. The scorer pounced on a rebound on the edge of the area and from there fired a cross shot that beat Dutch goalkeeper Femke Liefting.
However, the Netherlands had been playing better, even from the first half onwards. It was difficult for them to translate that into the scoreboard. They had more control and gave a feeling of superiority.
However, the Dutch had to wait until the second half to get the equaliser. And they did so almost at the end of the first quarter of an hour, after a run by defender Djoekke de Rider, who began to gain ground and then filtered a great ball that found striker Feur Stolt ready to finish. Goalkeeper Féérine Belhadj saved, but left a rebound, and Jet van Beijeren scored the 1-1 with which the first 90 minutes ended.
Van Beijeren, who came on at half-time in place of Robine Lacroix, was instrumental in the Netherlands’ comeback, although he had to wait until extra time to take a deserved lead given what was evident on the pitch.
And for Colombia to take note, the Netherlands once again showed that they are strong, filtering long balls down the ground so that their attackers were in a scoring position, between the centre-backs. And so, a pass from Van Beijeren left Feur Stoit in front of goal, ready to score the 2-1.
France went all out in search of a penalty shoot-out equaliser, but the Dutch defence responded by growing. The Netherlands lost a key player, Ilse Kemper, for the match against Colombia due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
The game between Colombia and the Netherlands will be on Sunday, at the Pascual Guerrero stadium in Cali, starting at 4:30 in the afternoon.
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