Netherlands vs Argentina in FIH Women’s World Cup Final: Dutch Side Bring Their A-Game to Seal 9th Title

In an impeccable display of high-quality hockey, the Netherlands team registered a convincing 3-1 win over Argentina in the Final of the FIH Women’s World Cup 2022. The defending champions dominated the proceedings for almost the entirety of the match and used their intensity and sound strategy to undo an in-form Argentina team.

Netherlands vs Argentina in FIH Women’s World Cup Final: Full Match Report

The start of the game witnessed Argentina dominating possession. However, in the second half of the first quarter, the Netherlands took charge and they didn’t look back for the entire match. The first quarter, though, was quite even and there were no clear cut chances for either side. Argentina did manage to get a couple of penalty corners but neither came off.

The second quarter saw the Dutch team calling the shots. They dominated possession and denied the Argentinian forward line of Maria and Victoria Granatto and Agustina Albertarrio any opportunity to show their skills. This was part of a pre-match strategy as the coach of the Netherlands team had said before the game that he would like to ‘neutralize’ Argentina’s forwards.

The scoring opened for Netherlands in the 17th minute when Maria Verschoor quickly stepped in to tap the ball, after it had been stopped off a penalty corner drag-flick by the goalkeeper, into the goal.

The second goal was created by a magnificent pass from Laurien Leurink. She delivered the ball through the midfield to Frederique Matla who was ahead of all Argentinian defenders and found herself in a one-on-one contest with Belen Succi. Matla entered the circle, turned just to her left and unleashed a full-blooded reverse hit that thundered into the net.

The Dutch domination continued after the halftime break and another goal came their way in the 36th minute. Since Argentina were looking for goals, they were vulnerable to counter-attacks. Eva de Goede gave a pass from deep in her own half to Freeke Moes who moved it on to Felice Albers.

Albers rushed forward down the right-hand side and had no one in front of her except the goalkeeper. She had an Argentinian defender charging down the center to cut her route to the goal. Albers moved in towards the goal and, after getting into the front of the goalkeeper, leaving the defender behind, hit the ball to her right, past Succi, to make it 3-0.

Argentina were really up against it now. What was most troublesome for them was the fact that their forward line, which is their biggest strength, was kept dormant. Maria Granatto, playing as center-forward, seemed to have been marked out for special attention by the defending champions. Every time the ball came towards the Dutch circle, she found herself surrounded by defenders. Her inactivity meant that Argentina were defanged.

Another problem for the Las Leonas was the fact that their style of dribbling and short passes wasn’t working. Whenever their forwards and midfielders found the ball, they were attacked by multiple orange singlets and had nowhere to go or pass the ball. Usually, they ended up losing possession.

The last quarter saw Argentina trying desperately hard against a seemingly impenetrable Dutch defence. They tried to find their way into the circle through the flanks. A penalty corner came their way in the 46th minute and Agustina Gorzelany drag-flicked the ball into the goal to give her team some hope.

Argentina looked most promising in the last quarter. However, it still wasn’t enough to overcome a Dutch team that was playing at its best. Their consummate performance took them to their ninth World title.

Netherlands vs Argentina in FIH Women’s World Cup Final: Goals

Maria Verschoor (17′)

Frederique Matla (24′)

Felice Albers (36′)

Agustina Gorzelany (46′)

Netherlands vs Argentina in FIH Women’s World Cup Final: Player of the Match

Felice Albers