A late Wang Lisi goal was enough to separate China and The Netherlands as the Chinese won a cagey affair after nearly 30 attempts on goal.
China always looked like being the team to win the game as for a second game in succession the Oranje seemed to be on the back foot. The Leeuwinnen grabbed a win last time out, but here their efforts weren’t enough as China won through a defensive mishap seeing Wang take an opportunist tap past the ‘keeper to seal the three points.
Both sides made two changes coming into this game, with Tang coming in for Li Ying, and Han coming in for Gu Yasha for China. While Sari van Veenedaal came in for the injured Loes Geurts and Tassel Middag coming in for Anouk Dekker.
China needed a win to keep their World Cup hopes alive, and it didn’t take long for the first chance to come as Tang took a shot on the turn, only for the ball to sail over van Veenednaal’s goal. This would be a statement of intent from the Chinese as they had three more solid chances throughout the half.
The Netherlands start well but China fight back
However Holland soon grew into game, with Manon Melis causing all kinds of problems down the wing, she played it past Liu Shanshan before forcing a corner. The Goteborg striker was the liveliest player of the half, and arguably the Leeuwinnen’s biggest threat. She almost set up the opener, as she sent a ball into the area, which Vivianne Miedema ran onto. As the Bayern Munich striker turned and shot, she lost her footing with the ball trickling out for a corner after Wang made contact with it.
China had their fair share of chances, as Han shot on the edge of the area as van Veenedaal saved and put it to her right for a corner. Van Veenendaal, stepping in for the injured Leos Geurts, who had an ankle problem, was easily the busier ‘keeper as just like the New Zealand game, Netherlands were definitely on the back foot, allowing China to play ball and almost paying for it, had it not been for van Veenedaal’s saves.
China burst out the blocks in the second half, nearly catching out the Netherlands a few times, before Melis showed another burst of pace and forced yet another corner. But China continued to threaten as Tang found some space for herself before turning van der Gragt, but her shot was straight at van Veenendaal who parried it out for a corner.
The game settled into a steady pace as the hour mark approached, China were firmly in the Dutch half as they looked for that opening goal. Melis almost scored on the counter attack as her solo effort was saved well by Wang.
China's dominance continued
The biggest chance of the game came around in the 65th minute as Tang managed to get into some space, before her rocket shot ricocheted against the woodwork, with van Veenedaal beaten. Following this chance the game became a little more end to end, with the Netherlands starting to hold the ball a little more and try to put some pressure on the Chinese defence.
From out of nowhere the Netherlands put a solid effort on goal. A fine turn by Lieke Martens before a great pass to Miedema, and the 18 year old managed to get in a cross to Danielle van de Donk, but she made contact with Wang instead and the chance came to nothing, with the China ‘keeper being down for a few minutes.
Following this effort the Oranje came alive, a fine passing move involving Martens and Miedema ended with the former trying to cut inside and her shot stung the palms of Wang who held on to the ball. Seconds later Miedema had another effort on goal but her shot was blocked by the China defender and took all the power off the shot.
In the final five minutes China came oh so close to opening the scoring. Tang was in acres of space on the wing and her cross found an unmarked Ma Jun, but the substitutes volley was over the bar. The Chinese couldn’t have done much more to grab a goal, as they fired shot after shot at the Dutch area, only for both defenders and van Veenendaal foiling them.
China finally make the break through
However the goal finally came for China, at the 26th attempt, as Wang Lisi took a touch as van Dongen failed to control the ball, with Wang sneaking in and tapping the ball past a helpless van Veenednaal. A deserved opener for the Chinese as they had been dominant throughout the game, a Dutch goal would certainly have been against the run of play.
This win has blown open Group A, as both sides sit on three points, and means it could go down to the wire in the final round of games. For a second game in succession Miedema was quiet and looked ineffective against two strong central defenders. But after a late heartbreak last week, the Chinese exact revenge in the same manner.