It is coming up to the business end of things in the FIH Pro League as the scramble to be in the top four and earn a place at the Grand Final begins. One team that never seems to be ‘scrambling’, but rather sailing through competitions serenely, is the world number one team, Netherlands women.
So far in the FIH Pro League, Alyson Annan’s team has continued its unbeaten progression, with one exception – a 1-0 loss at the hands of Australia. That result apart, Netherlands have played ten matches, winning nine and scoring 28 goals in the process. Barring a complete reversal of form, the Oranje will be appearing at the Grand Final in Amsterdam, where they will seek to add FIH Pro League champions to the host of other titles they have won under the guidance of Annan.
Four of their remaining games will be played at home venues in front of packed stands of mainly Dutch supporters. Until this month, Alyson Annan has been rotating players for each game. In the last two matches – a 2-0 victory over Great Britain and a 2-1 win over Germany – the world caught a glimpse of a full-strength Dutch squad for the first time and it was impressive. Among the coaching staff and entire squad there is a sense of exhilaration and excitement. The question really is how good can this current crop of players become? There is little doubt that the Netherlands are enjoying the Pro League experience.
We caught up with midfield superstar and 2018 FIH Player of the Year, Eva de Goede, ahead of Netherlands’ clash with European rivals Great Britain. The midfielder, whose club side AH&BC Amsterdam had just been crowned 2018/19 European Club Champions, explained how a rotating squad system was one of the key factors in the World Cup champion’s incredible consistency.
“I think our Pro League campaign is going great so far,” said the midfielder,
“We’ve travelled the world and played our games with a different team every time. It has been amazing to see youngsters play in the squad like they’ve already playing there for years. And it is amazing to see that we can still be great with a lot of different players each time.”
The conundrum for the Dutch team and their head coach has been how to keep challenging the team to improve on their performances but, by constantly rotating the squad, there has been a pressure on the players to adapt to new people around them. De Goede says that has been a tough challenge.
“For us it’s mostly about growing each time we play. Especially because we do have a lot of new and young players in our team. We really try to focus on how we want to play as Holland and what we want to show the world.
“It’s all about being a team and playing as a team. With a different team every game that’s hard. We have a busy schedule in June coming up so we’re aiming on growing every game and really get that team feeling in the squad.
“Of course it hasn’t been easy. It’s hard work, you have to invest in the whole squad to make it work and that is tough mentally. Playing the style of hockey we want to play takes some time, it doesn’t just happen overnight. We push ourselves to improve with every game we play.”
Netherlands next FIH Pro league match will be against Belgium, in Antwerp on 8 June.
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