Netherlands beat Vietnam by 7-0

Dunedin, The Gulf Observer: Esmee Brugts netted two long-range stunners as the Netherlands rediscovered their scoring touch in a crushing 7-0 win over Vietnam on Tuesday, reaching the Women’s World Cup knockouts in style and locking up top spot in Group E.

The Dutch had only scored once in each of their two previous games but, knowing goal difference could decide the group winners, were 4-0 up inside 25 minutes, with Brugts’ curled effort the pick of the bunch.

Her second goal in the 57th minute was a carbon copy of the first and put the Netherlands 6-0 ahead before Jill Roord also bagged her second of the night to wrap up the emphatic win, the biggest of the tournament so far.

“I’ll surely be looking back with a happy feeling,” Brugts said. “I scored two but the rest of the team also played well.

“The confidence level is the same as before the game. We wanted to be ranked first in the group. We managed to do so, and that’s nice.”

The Netherlands were expected to finish behind the United States in the group but the defending champions were held to a goalless draw by Portugal in Auckland and ended in second place in Group E, two points off the summit.

The 2019 runners-up will travel to Sydney for their last 16 tie on Sunday and are likely to face Italy, who sit in second place behind Sweden in Group G.

Although they were missing all-time top scorer Vivianne Miedema due to injury, the Dutch had five different goalscorers against Vietnam, who had already been eliminated after losing their first two games.

Lieke Martens, Katja Snoeijs, Roord and Danielle van de Donk also scored in the first half and the Netherlands had a staggering 42 attempts at goal overall, including 17 on target. By contrast, Vietnam managed five shots but none on target.

Dominique Janssen launched a wonderful ball from defence into Vietnam’s penalty area, where Martens lobbed goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh to put the Netherlands ahead after eight minutes for her 60th international goal.