Miedema: Netherlands need to be at their best to beat England

By Laura Howard, Sportsbeat

Vivianne Miedema is under no illusion that the Netherlands will still need to be at their best to get a result against England despite their opponents’ recent struggles.

The Netherlands won their opening match 3-0 against Wales, with all-time WSL scorer Miedema bagging the first goal – the 100th international goal of her career.

But the Lionesses looked poor against France as they fell to 2-1 defeat at Stadion Letzigrund.

However, Miedema is confident they will still prove a tough test for her side with England knowing a defeat will end their Euros defence.

“If you come up against a team like France, they have so much quality as well, so I’m not necessarily surprised that France beat England because they can beat anyone on their day,” she explained.

“It’s also too readily said that, ‘Oh England can’t play football anymore,’ because that’s obviously not the case.

“They’ve got so much quality on the pitch and within their whole squad and I’m pretty sure they’ve not forgotten how to play football.

“We know that we need to be at our best tomorrow to get a result and that’s the exciting thing about being at a Euros to play teams like England and in games like these.”

The Dutch will have momentum in their favour, having been offered what many would perceive as a kinder schedule in Group D after facing underdogs Wales first.

It was a challenge that did not take them out of second gear, but while England have stuttered, they offer plenty of threats to a Netherlands side who have become familiar opposition.

“[I expect] a really difficult game. Obviously we know their qualities and I think they know ours. It could be a big technical game but it comes down to who has the better day,” said Miedema.

“Looking at how we started the tournament, we can get a lot of confidence out of that game, but we also know to beat England we need to do a lot better than that.”

Miedema is familiar with much of the England team having played alongside or against many in the Women’s Super League during spells at Arsenal and Manchester City.

Notably, manager Sarina Wiegman coached Miedema and many of her current teammates to glory at Euro 2017 with the Dutch striker able to recognise her influence on the England squad.

“I can definitely [see her influence] in their playing style. Their focus has become more and more possessional in a way,” she explained.

“They are basically playing in a way that we did when she was our head coach.”

It brings an added dimension to the game, if there were not enough already, as Wiegman’s current England assistant Arjan Veurink will return to the Dutch set-up as manager after the tournament.

But while Veurink and Wiegman will undoubtedly have similar thought processes from their time together, current Dutch manager Andries Jonker also knows the England coach well, with Miedema able to spot similarities there too.

It means that fans of both the Netherlands and England can expect entertaining football on Wednesday as friendships get cast aside as the Netherlands chase three points that will send them to the quarter-finals.

“Both of them are crazy about football,” said Miedema. “I can give them a call at 3am in the morning if I want to discuss something.

“Both of them want to see beautiful football being played.”

Miedema: Netherlands need to be at their best to beat England

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