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The Netherlands guaranteed their passage to the knockout stage of the 2019 Women's World Cup after overcoming Cameroon comfortably at the Stade de Hainaut in Valenciennes. Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema scored a brace and became the Netherlands' top goalscorer in her 77th cap for the country.
The 22-year-old headed her team forward in the 41st minute after meeting Shanice van de Sanden's cross. Cameroon equalized immediately though, with Gabrielle Onguene scoring for the African side. The African outfits failure to clear their lines from a Dutch freekick meant that another Arsenal player, Dominique Bloodworth, put the Netherlands in the ascendancy again.
Miedema then doubled her tally and notched up the Netherlands' third in the 85th minute after cutting in from the left flank and unleashing a venomous strike past goalkeeper Annette Ngo. They lead Group E and were joined in the knockout stages by Canada, who beat New Zealand 2-0.
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Canada notch up second successive win
Jessie Fleming and Nichelle Prince struck second-half goals to help Canada advance to the knockout rounds of the Women's World Cup, joining the likes of the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, England, and France. New Zealand lost defender CJ Bott in the first half to injury and that seemed to have affected them.
Coach Tom Sermanni's side did not have a shot on target and the Canadians' domination was apparent by the fact that New Zealand ended the game with only 30% of possession. A clean sheet in the game meant that Canada's run without conceding a goal stretched to 256 minutes. Fleming broke the deadlock three minutes after half time as she met Prince's cutback from eight meters.
Prince then scored herself, slotting in from close range after Christine Sinclair's header hit Erin Nayler's post. The victory was huge for the Canadians as they had never advanced from the group stage when playing outside of North America. They'll now face the Netherlands in their final group match on Thursday in Reims.
