Lineth Beerensteyn is still not training with the Orange Lionesses a week before the start of the European Championship. The 28-year-old forward was not on the field during the farewell training in Zeist on Saturday.
Beerensteyn briefly came onto the field after training to thank the 1,200 supporters for their attendance. Earlier in the day, Beerensteyn had trained individually, but she skipped the group training.
The forward is in a race against time to make the European Championship. The player from The Hague, who was the top scorer in the German league last season, was injured in April and has not yet recovered.
Beerensteyn has not trained with the group since she arrived in Zeist early last week. However, she has been included in the final selection by national coach Andries Jonker.
It is highly questionable whether Beerensteyn will be fit in time for the first match and whether she will make the tournament at all. It is not without reason that Shanice van de Sanden, who missed out on a place in the final selection, is traveling with the group to Switzerland as a reserve.
National coach Jonker may make a change to his selection before the first group match, provided there is a medical reason for it. Beerensteyn could therefore be replaced by Van de Sanden next week.
Orange travels to Switzerland on Tuesday
The supporters who were present at the KNVB Campus did not let their enthusiasm suffer from Beerensteyn’s absence. The mainly young fans, who were massively dressed in orange, were hunting for autographs.
The Orange players came onto the field with the open bus that is normally used for the fanwalks of the Orange supporters. Such a fanwalk will take place at every group match in Switzerland at the European Championship.
The training lasted about an hour and was mainly focused on entertaining the public. For example, a penalty series was completed twice. Serious exercises were left out.
Orange is free on Sunday and Monday, after which the team will fly to Bern by plane on Tuesday. From there, they will travel by bus to the base camp in Spiez.
Orange’s first European Championship match is on July 5 at 6:00 PM against Wales. The match will be played in Lucerne. This will be followed by matches against England (July 9) in Zurich and France (July 13) in Basel.
