Dutch coach praises South Africa's fighting spirit as Oranje starts preparing for Sunday

Dutch coach Andries Jonker enjoyed the South African football players’ fighting- and team spirit in the match against Italy on Wednesday, he told RTL Nieuws. Thanks to South Africa’s 3-2 win, Oranje will face them in the round of 16 on Sunday. Jonker has some homework to do in the coming days, he said.

“Physically, I thought they were very good. They kept going for 90 minutes. The striker reminded me a bit of Nelli Cooman,” Jonker said. He will do a detailed analysis of the match and the team in the coming days. “The duel was partly during dinner. Sometimes I was also in another room. I did not concentrate on it much,” he said. “But it was a top-class fight, as we have seen in so many of the matches in this tournament. It was beautiful women’s football.”

If Italy had gone through to the eighth-finals, Jonker and the Oranje Lionesses would have less homework to do, Jonker said. “We have a slightly better picture of Italy. Lineth Beerensteyn and Aniek Nouwen played there. Our staff members are also in Italy from time to time. We know little about South African football.”

The Oranje Lionesses last played against South Africa in April last year, winning 5-1. But it is hard to compare, Jonker said. “Then we played with a completely different team.” He doesn’t want his team to underestimate their opponents. “Smaller countries are also fit. You rarely see that they cannot keep up physically.”

According to Jonker, there is no clear favorite for the title yet. “There are a number of large countries that live up to expectations, and we’re also playing an excellent role shortly behind them. In my opinion, there are still between five and ten title candidates.”