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Preamble
Hello everyone! It’s been a while. I believe the last time I went live was when the US women were still in this Cup.
What a fascinating matchup we have here! Two European nations with rich traditions in men’s soccer that have recently embraced women’s soccer and made remarkable progress. Both teams’ presence in this competition, the semifinals, and even on the winners’ stand wouldn’t come as a surprise.
On paper, Spain seems slightly ahead. However, the Netherlands boasts exceptional attacking talent and a goalkeeper who can shut the door.
Beau will join us shortly. In the meantime, here’s Jonathan Liew’s take on this intriguing matchup:
The passage of time begins to weigh heavily at this point. Spain has been in New Zealand for a month, enduring near-zero temperatures, strong winds that disrupt well-executed long passes, and an overwhelming sense of boredom that led the entire squad and their families to relocate from their sleepy Palmerston North training base to the bustling center of Wellington in the middle of the tournament.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, has been constantly on the move from their base in Tauranga, traveling south to Wellington and Dunedin, west to Sydney for their last-16 game, and back again. “So many airports,” exclaimed their coach, Andries Jonker, on Thursday. “So many hotels. So many pitches. So many flights. We are the world champions of flying.”
New Zealand instills a sense of remoteness, not just through its vast rolling landscapes, but also through the disconnection of time zones, distances, unfamiliar weather, and the knowledge that messages back home will go unread for another eight hours. This journey has its rewards and memorable moments, but after riding it for so long, it’s important to have the right kind of rewards and memories.
And now, we have a quarter-final showdown between two European powerhouses scheduled in the dead of the European night: 3am in Madrid and Amsterdam. It’s not just the players who are putting in the effort here. Jonker suggests setting an early alarm, while Spain’s coach, Jorge Vilda, believes it might be easier to stay up late. That’s the difference between northern and southern Europe in a nutshell. Despite the similarities between these two coaches and their teams, there are also distinctions that promise to create one of the most captivating matches of the tournament.
You can read the full story here:
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