Netherlands looking to exploit France’s open spaces says Manchester United’s Groenen | OneFootball

Manchester United’s Jackie Groenen believes that The Netherlands can exploit the spaces left open in the French defence when the two nations meet in Rotherham this evening in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 quarter-finals.

France won their group after just two games while The Netherlands needed to ride out a nervy final group game against Switzerland to secure their safe passage into the last eight.

Corinne Diacre’s French side have looked dangerous on the attack so far in this summer’s tournament but Dutch midfielder Groenen believes that Les Bleues have defensive frailties which can be exploited when the two sides meet at The AESSEAL New York Stadium this evening.

“I think France are very good upfront, they’ve got dangerous attacking players and around our goal, they will make it very difficult for us,” Groenen said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.

“Sometimes they have a tendency to leave the game open with open spaces and we will look to exploit that weakness.”

As expected, The Netherlands fans have been the most fanatical of any nation at the tournament. Groenen went on to say that tonight’s venue should be ideal with the fans being so close to the pitch.

She said “I’ve seen the stadium and it’s a typical British stadium where the fans are very close to the pitch and are very close to the players. For us, it will be fantastic to have our fans so close to us and I hope that they will be our 12th women.

The Netherlands’ UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 quarter-final against France kicks-off at 8pm.