Manchester City F.C.
·26 September 2023
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Yahoo sportsManchester City F.C.
·26 September 2023
A City quartet featured as the Netherlands dramatically beat England 2-1 in the Women’s Nations League.
Jill Roord started for the hosts while Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly all represented Sarina Wiegman’s side at Stadion Galgenwaard.
The two nations entered the tie in contrasting form with Andries Jonker’s team losing their first League A 1 match 2-1 to Belgium and the Lionesses beating Scotland by the same scoreline in their opening assignment.
In a bid to bounce back from disappointment last time out, the hosts were electrifying going forward and Roord had the best chance of the opening exchanges when she retrieved possession before letting fly from range which Mary Earps did well to hold.
And the Netherland’s pressure paid off soon after when an under hit pass out of defence was retrieved before the ball was fed into the path of Danielle van de Donk who teed up Lieke Martens and she curled excellently into the top corner.
Against the run of play, the Lionesses almost equalised on the cusp of half-time when Rachel Daly produced a well-timed volley which saw the ball cannon off the left post before Hemp saw a drilled effort saved.
But it was Holland who would architect the final chance of the first half when Lineth Beerensteyn weaved into the box and whipped an effort that crashed against the crossbar.
Kelly was introduced from the bench at half-time, but it was Hemp who came agonisingly close to drawing her nation level when she lost her marker at the back post and saw her diving header cleared off the line.
City's skilful winger scored three goals in seven World Cup matches at the competition, but she was denied once again against the Netherlands when she met Kelly's whipped cross from the right before Daphne van Domselaar produced a fine save to thwart her effort.
The Lionesses strong attacking play paid dividends in the 63rd minute when the ball was fired into Alessia Russo who instinctively clipped the ball into the net on the turn.
With the clock ticking down and the game looking likely to end in a draw, the hosts snatched all three points on the cusp of full-time when Renate Jansen broke clear and powered the ball into the roof of the net.
The two nations are now tied on three points in League A 1 with the Netherlands sitting second and England third.
Meanwhile, Filippa Angeldahl played 83 minutes in Castel di Sangro as Sweden recorded a fine 1-0 Nations League win over Italy.
It was the first time the sides had met since City midfielder’s nation comprehensively beat their European counterparts 5-0 at the Women’s World Cup in July en route to their third-place finish at the showpiece.
On home soil, the hosts enjoyed most of the early possession, but Peter Gerhardsson’s side broke the deadlock against the run of play when Johanna Kaneryd ghosted into the box and swept home a precise cut-back.
That proved to be the only goal of the game as Sweden bounced back from their narrow, entertaining 3-2 defeat to Laia Aleixandri’s Spain in their opening tournament matchup last week.
Elsewhere, Julie Blakstad was an unused substitute as Norway lost 3-2 to with Portugal in Barcelos.
Arsenal’s Frida Maanum had opened the scoring in the first half before their lead was wiped out before the interval through Andreia Jacinto’s strike and Carole Costa’s penalty.
The second half proved to be as enthralling as the first and it wasn’t long until the visitors found an equaliser of their own when Elisabeth Terland pulled her side level in the 58th minute.
There was time for a fifth goal of the evening at Estádio Cidade de Barcelos as Portugal claimed all three points when Costa repeated the trick from 12-yards to fire another spot-kick home.
‘Rise: The Story of our Season’ – the latest documentary from City Studios - will be released on CITY+ this Friday, charting the progress of Manchester City Women across the 2022/23 campaign.
Records were broken, reputations were forged, and an exciting young squad showed they could go toe-to-toe with the best that England has to offer.
Our cameras were there every step of the way, capturing the thrills and spills of a compelling WSL title race which went down to the wire.
With candid reflections from players and coaches alike, ‘Rise’ provides a window into the personalities behind the stars you’ve seen on the pitch, while also nodding towards what should be another enthralling campaign, which begins on Sunday against West Ham United.
Keep across mancity.com, the official Man City app and our social platforms across this week for teaser clips from the documentary.
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