Dutch delight after early goal sinks Portugal

Stefanie van der Gragt (centre) scores for the Netherlands as they beat Portugal 1-0 in their Fifa Women’s World Cup encounter at Dunedin Stadium last night. PHOTO: REUTERS

The Netherlands secured a 1-0 victory against Portugal in their opening Fifa Women’s World Cup game at Dunedin Stadium last night.

It was in front of a spirited 11,991 crowd, mainly dressed in orange from high-vis to clownfish hats to support the Netherlands, ranked ninth in the world.

But the fans of Portugal, ranked 21, were arguably the noisier of the bunch, a pocket of exuberant fans banging their drums, waving flags and chanting the entire game.

The Netherlands, runners-up at the 2019 World Cup, pressured on attack and looked to have an early opportunity when Lieke Martens squeaked through the middle and put a short pass in front of Lineth Beerensteyn.

But that went begging over the crossbar.

Moments later, captain Sherida Spitse took a right corner, and hooked it inwards.

It was met with a lovely header from defender Stefanie van der Gragt across the goal which found the back of the net in the 13th minute, one of the earliest goals of the tournament.

Her celebrations — and the sea of orange — began, but the flag was up and it looked in doubt.

Referee Kateryna Monzul headed to the sideline to review it — met with bundles of fans peering down over the tunnel to catch a glimpse of what she was doing — and she awarded the goal, which drew another cheer from the crowd.

The Netherlands continued to create opportunities.

Danielle van de Donk’s shot went over the bar and Beerensteyn had her chances as well.

Portugal winger Jessica Silva was in the thick of everything and her team had their moments.

But they became frustrated with the lack of calls going their way, and their support staff in the crowd and on the sideline were on their feet in frustration more than once.

Beerensteyn looked dangerous again in the second half, centreing the ball in the box and leaving it for van de Donk to bang in only for it to be met by a stunning save from Portugal goalkeeper Ines Pereira.

It was a much better second half from Portugal, who pressured more and found themselves putting Silva in more space to run and have a crack at the ball.

Their best came in the 82nd minute when Telma Encarnacao burned on the outside, cut inwards, and banged it towards goal. It was saved by Daphne van Domselaar who saved again in the 88th minute.