Lee, England, July 14 (BUS): Daniel van de Donk’s superb shot gave the Netherlands a 3-2 victory over Portugal to take the defending champions at the top of the Group C table for the 2022 FIFA Women’s Euros.
Reuters reported that Damaris Igurola gave the Dutch the lead in the seventh minute with a superb header from a corner kick and appeared on their way to a comfortable victory when Stephanie van der Graggt headed in the second minute nine minutes later.
But Portugal, who fought back from two early goals in a 2-2 draw in their opening match against Switzerland, once again showed their resilience.
Carol Costa scored a penalty kick, seven minutes before the end of the first half, after the VAR review decided that Diana Silva had fallen to Dominic Janssen.
Then, two minutes into the first half, the Portuguese tied with Silva with the confidence of a wonderful cross from Costa.
The Dutch thought they immediately regained their lead through Jill Roard, but her effort was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR review.
But a fine finish from Van de Donk put the Netherlands 3-2 ahead, as the midfielder collected the ball on the edge of the penalty area and fired a beautiful shot into the far corner.
The Dutch team has four points from two matches with equal points with Sweden, Portugal and Switzerland with one point each. Sweden beat Switzerland 2-1 on Tuesday.