FIFA Women’s World Cup: Netherlands beat South Africa to reach quarter-finals
Sydney (IANS). The Netherlands reached the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup after beating South Africa 2-0 on Sunday.
2019 runners-up the Netherlands scored in each half of the match in front of 40,000 spectators at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Jill Ruard gave the team an early lead and Lyneth Berenstein scored the second goal in the 68th minute due to a goalkeeping error in the second half, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Netherlands next face sixth-ranked Spain, who made their first quarter-finals after beating Switzerland 5-1 on Saturday. They will be without Daniel van de Dok, who received his second yellow card of the tournament and will be ruled out of the next match under the rules.
South Africa, who are 45 places below the Netherlands, came into the tournament as an underdog, but surprised everyone by defeating Italy 3–2 to win their first World Cup game.
The Netherlands, playing an attacking game, scored their first goal in the ninth minute.
Manchester City midfielder Ruard scored his fourth goal of the tournament and the sixth time the Netherlands have scored within the first 20 minutes.
South Africa struggled in their first knockout match. Their troubles were further compounded when forward Jermaine Siopsonwe suffered an injury, although he continued to play for 10 minutes until being substituted.
South Africa came very close to scoring several times with their charismatic stand-in captain Thembi Kgatlana. But his attempts to equalize were repeatedly thwarted by Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne Van, who made several fine saves.
