The rivalry between the Netherlands and Norway has been fully documented throughout the last six years, with the Scandinavian side winning an IHF Women’s World Championship final in 2015 against their Dutch counterparts, a Women’s EHF EURO final in 2016 and the bronze medal at the Olympic Games Rio 2016.

Yet despite their woes against the reigning European champions, the Netherlands have been one of the most consistent teams in recent years, with five medals to show for, three at the IHF Women’s World Championship – gold at Japan 2019, silver at Denmark 2015 and bronze at Germany 2017 – and two at the Women’s EHF EURO – a silver in 2016 and a bronze in 2018.

The success has dried up, however, in the last two major tournaments, as the Netherlands took sixth place at the Women’s EHF EURO last December, and fifth place at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

It swiftly prompted a coaching change, with French ace Emmanuel Mayonnade being replaced by Monique Tijsterman, who spent the last 15 years working for the Dutch Handball Federation (NHV), being responsible for developing many of the players who are now the core of the women’s senior national team.

“After we finished fifth at the World Championship in Russia 2005, we understood that we need to be professional and train harder to develop better players. So, I think that this was one of the first moments when it really clicked for Netherlands in women’s handball,” said Tijsterman.

The foundation was laid down in 1995, but building up from scratch really takes time, therefore results did not come immediately. But when the Hoofd HandbalAcademie was finally starting to take off, there was no stopping the Netherlands from ploughing their way to establish themselves among the top teams in the world.

Nearly every player in the current squad has been developed there, before moving to clubs in Germany or Denmark, where they added much-needed experience to their arsenal. The plan worked like a charm and Tijsterman is reaping the benefits which she sowed a long time ago.

One of those players is captain Danick Snelder, who, at 31 years old, is the oldest player in the squad. The versatile line player, who is a mainstay in the Dutch defence, became only the 10th player in history to reach 200 selections in the national team, when she took on the court for the game against Sweden in the preliminary round.

“I am the most experienced player in the squad, I would not say the oldest. I am definitely not feeling old,” laughed Snelder when asked about her achievement.

“I think we got the perfect mix between some very young players, which are exciting to watch and are developing superbly, and experienced players like myself, backs Laura van der Heijden, Estavana Polman or Lois Abbingh. And we are amazing together, I am very proud to play in each game for the Dutch team,” added Snelder.

With an average age of 26.2 years in the roster and nearly 100 international games played, on average, for the players, this is the right moment for the Netherlands to add to their medal tally.

When Tijsterman came in September, replacing Mayonnade, many were asking about the fit, on how the reigning world champions would look at the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship and whether the golden era of this side is gone.

“I was not set off on making big changes, because I think the team was playing good and the players knew each other very well. When I came in, I thought about looking into small details, which would enhance the chances of us getting stronger.

“For example, I tinkered a bit with a 5+1 defence, which was not used previously, and I knew we had to become better on fast breaks, because scoring an easy goal is paramount to success and keeps feeding the players’ morale,” said Tijsterman.

Whether the defence got better or not, it will surely be put to test against one of the greatest attacks on earth, Norway. But as soon as Tijsterman was talking about defence and its importance, the stats at Spain 2021 popped up into discussion.

Facing Puerto Rico, Uzbekistan, Sweden, Romania and Kazakhstan on their way to the decider against Norway, the Netherlands have topped their scoring record in a game at the IHF Women’s World Championship three times, scoring at will.

In fact, after the first five games at Spain 2021, the Netherlands outscored every other team, putting 236 goals past the opponent goalkeepers. Sweden, who scored 26 goals less, are the only other team to hit the 200-goal mark in the competition. The Netherlands went close to scoring the most goals in a single game in the history of the competition in their win against Kazakhstan, 61:15, while also dropping 57 past Uzbekistan and 55 past Puerto Rico.

“I mean, we did not set off for that, but we needed those wins, because the goal difference might have come up against Sweden. We did not expect Sweden to seal a point against Norway, therefore it was likely to be coming down to the goal difference, so we ran, and we ran and we did not stop at all. However, this was not what I was trying to do with the team in hard-fought games.

“Of course, we scored 31 goals against Sweden and 31 against Romania, which is impressive, but I would like the defence to concede less,” concluded Tijsterman.

On average, the Netherlands have scored 15 goals more than in their title-winning campaign at Japan 2019. However, the hardest game of the competition will be tonight against Norway. A loss combined with a Swedish win against Romania would see the two Scandinavian sides progress to the quarter-finals.

But the Netherlands are relenting the challenge and the pressure.

“Games like this are always very difficult to predict, so everything might happen. I, for one, am truly proud of what we achieved and if we are to lose and be eliminated, so be it. The team played good and we have been amazing at times,” said Tijsterman.

Yet, do not be fooled for one second that the Dutch will not give it their all against Norway. 

With Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen securing his maiden world championship title on Sunday in the final lap after a battle for the ages, Tijsterman comments on this performance this both thumbs firmly up: 

“I will sign up for being down the entire game against Norway and then making an amazing comeback, hands down.” 

Photos: RFEBM / J. Navarro