Orange women play towards World Cup closed practice match against boys team | Football

By Jeroen van Barneveld

May 31, 2023 at 6:19 PMUpdate: 11 minutes ago

The Orange Women will play a practice match against a boys’ team in the run-up to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The game will be played behind closed doors.

The match is not an official international match, but a training match during a training camp in Horst (June 27-July 4) in Limburg. The game therefore does not consist of two times 45 minutes. The players of the boys team are eighteen years old. The game is on June 25.

National coach Andries Jonker said on Wednesday during the announcement of the pre-selection for the World Cup that he wants to give his players a physical stimulus with the match. The Netherlands will also practice in Kerkrade against Belgium on 2 July.

The fact that the Orange Women suffer image damage in the event of a possible defeat is the reason why the duel takes place behind closed doors. That while in other sports such as hockey and handball, women’s teams regularly practice against boys’ teams.

The Netherlands will start preparing for the World Cup on June 19, although that is still uncertain due to a conflict with European top clubs. The World Cup will be held from July 20 to August 20. The Netherlands will meet Portugal, Vietnam and reigning world champions the United States in the group stage.

Schedule Orange direction and during World Cup

June 19: World Cup preparations start in Zeist June 27-July 4: training camp in Horst July 2: Dutch-Belgium exhibition match in Kerkrade July 9-17: training camp in Sydney July 23: Netherlands-Portugal in Dunedin (World Cup match 1) 27 July: US-Netherlands in Wellington (World Cup match 2) August 1: Vietnam-Netherlands in Dunedin (World Cup match 3)

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