The Netherlands opened their 2019 Women’s World Cup campaign with a late, late win over New Zealand as a Jill Roord header in stoppage time broke the hearts of the Oceania champions.
The European champions have now joined Canada at the top of Group E, after both teams won their competition openers with the identical score of 1-0.
It was the classic match where the team with most quality in its roster, in this case the Dutch, enjoyed the lion’s share of possession but were finding it difficult to break down their opponents.
New Zealand, for their part, parked two buses at the back but while they were tactically very organised, as you can expect by a side coached by former Orlando Pride coach Tom Sermanni, they were also a threat on the break forcing the Dutch custodian to come to the rescue for her side.