Vivianne Miedema and Lineth Beerensteyn will not be available for the Orange Lionesses in the Nations League match against Germany next Friday. Both forwards are struggling with injuries.
Miedema suffered a hamstring injury in early April in the Nations League match against Austria. The Orange top scorer feared she would have to miss the European Championship next summer, but that turned out not to be the case.
“That injury in Austria initially came as a huge blow. The damage turned out to be manageable and the European Championship was not in danger, so she was able to muster the strength to work incredibly hard and do everything to be where she is now,” said national coach Andries Jonker on Monday at a press conference.
Jonker thinks that Miedema will be able to participate in all training sessions in the coming international week, but he will not field her against Germany next Friday. He hopes to let Miedema come on as a substitute in the match against Scotland next Tuesday.
Beerensteyn is also not available for the first match against Germany, which is scheduled for next Friday. It is not known what kind of injury the striker has. “I now have to figure out what the best mix is without Vivianne and Lineth,” Jonker said. “I’m going to try that out on the field in the coming days.”
Due to the injuries of Beerensteyn and Miedema, there is a good chance that Shanice van de Sanden will make her return in Orange on Friday. The 32-year-old attacker last played for the Dutch national team in February last year. The match against Germany starts at 8:30 PM and will be played in the stadium of Werder Bremen.