Netherlands thrashed Wales women 3-0 in their first major tournament match in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Vivianne Miedema’s brilliant goal, her 100th for the Dutch Women national team, helped them to a comfortable win.
A combination of the woodwork, several near misses – including a goal-line clearance from Lily Woodham – an offside flag and goalkeeper Clark – who saved brilliantly to deny substitute Lineth Beerensteyn kept the score to 3-0.
Miedema’s superb effort on the stroke of half-time undid a solid 45 minutes of defending from Wales who never really looked like producing an upset against their more illustrious opponents.
Wales hopes of a comeback were dashed within moments of the restart as a long ball over their defence broke their offside trap and allowed Danielle van de Donk to find Victoria Pelova who finished calmly.
Esmee Brugts added a third before the hour mark as the Wales gameplan was undone and it became a case of damage limitation for the tournament debutants who could have easily lost by a greater margin.
In a game of attack versus defence, Wales found out just how tough the competition is at a major finals.
Rhian Wilkinson’s side fell behind within five minutes, before Olivia Clark’s fingertip save denied Manchester City’s Jill Roord after she cut inside and bent a shot towards the top corner.
Roord looked the player most likely to make something happen against what was essentially a Welsh defensive seven.
But they could only look on and hope as her ferocious 25-yard shot cannoned off the post and out to safety on 35 minutes, with Roord also hitting the crossbar in the second half.
Wales produced an excellent defensive display until seconds before the interval when Miedema twisted and turned to find space and curled the ball into the corner of the net from just outside the penalty area.
Pelova’s goal was far more preventable as a straight ball over the top undid Wales’ defence and Wilkinson’s side wilted in the Swiss sunshine as Barcelona’s Esmee Brugts found space at the back post to poke home a third goal before the hour mark.
