Dutch coach wants to beat Vietnam women's team to avoid Sweden

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.

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."

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/hlv-ha-lan-muon-thang-dam-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-de-tranh-thuy-dien-236551.html