That Don’t Impress The Dutch

The opening game of the latest Nations League campaign didn’t exactly go like we might have hoped. Away from home against the third seeds in the group, and against a team that have never beaten Scotland in the past, might have been seen as a good opportunity to get off the mark and put ourselves in a good position to avoid finishing bottom of the table for a second time in three campaign.

Alas, it was not to be, as Austria won 1-0 courtesy of Lilli Purtscheller’s early goal. It’s not one the Scotland defence will want to see back, but here’s the highlights anyway.

Later that evening, Netherlands and Germany played out an entertaining 2-2 draw, the Dutch hosts taking the lead before being pegged back just before half time and then for the Germans to take the lead early in the second half. Parity was restored midway through the half, and the game ending that way means everyone is off the mark except Scotland.

Next up are the Dutch at Hampden Park this evening, with kick off at 7.30pm and the game live on the BBC Scotland channel.

The Dutch are familiar opponents of course, given Scotland met them the last time we were in Nations League A. Their visit to Hampden Park in October 2023 finished in a 1-0 win for the Dutch side. Esmee Brugts with the goal on the hour mark.

That was, admittedly, a better result than the 4-0 defeat that had happened days earlier in the Netherlands. Danielle Van de Donk with the opener and Brugts making it two before half time, before Lineth Beerensteyn got two in the second half.

Scotland have faced the Netherlands quite a few times over the year, with the two Nations League meetings taking the total to twenty matches between the sides. Of those twenty, Scotland have only managed to win four of them, and all four came in Cyprus Cup meetings!

In 2012 it was a 2-1 win courtesy of an own goal and a goal from Hayley Lauder.

In 2013 it was a 1-0 win with Kim Little getting the only goal of the game. In 2014, a Lisa Evans hat trick as well as a goal from Jen Beattie gave Scotland the edge in a 4-3 victory. And finally in 2015, A Kim Little hat trick gave Scotland a 3-1 win to make it four wins in four years over the Dutch in that tournament.

Unfortunately, other than a 0-0 draw in a friendly meeting in 2002, the other fifteen meetings have all ended in Dutch victories. The first of those coming in a 4-0 defeat way back in 1987 in Euro 89 qualifying. Along the way there’s also been a couple of 2-0 defeats at Almondvale in 2001 and 2003, as well as 1-0 defeat in 2008 and a 4-1 defeat in 2010 in the Cyprus Cup – just to show we didn’t always beat them there!

Frustratingly, despite the Cpyrus Cup run, the other time the sides have met competitively was in World Cup 2015 qualifying, and the Netherlands won both meetings in that campaign. A 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle and a 2-0 defeat in the Netherlands. Here’s the Tynecastle game.

I did find a couple more videos, but they’re for away games so I’ll keep those for the future blog! Although, I’m not sure they’re something to look forward to!

There’s no reason to think tonight’s game will be anything but tough. The Dutch will be at the Euros in Switzerland in the summer having finished in the top two of their League A qualifying group last year. The only glimmer of hope there is that they failed to win any of their three away games – losing 2-0 to Italy and drawing 1-1 with both Norway and Finland. Mind you, we didn’t exactly do well in Finland either, did we…

The Dutch also topped our Nations League group when we were last in League A, snatching top spot away from England right at the death with two injury time goals against Belgium to pip them on goal difference. When you consider England were hammering Scotland 6-0 that night, including their own injury time goal among that, that’s not a bad achievement!

After tonight’s matches, which include Austria’s visit to Germany at 5.15 oor time, Scotland will have their double header against Germany whilst Netherlands will have theirs against Austria. Those matches come at the start of April, with our game at Tannadice the first of the two.

Good luck to Scotland tonight!