Needed to win by telling margins to finish as group winners ahead of the United States and the Netherlands took that too personal, by recording the biggest win so far in this edition of the tournament by thrashing Vietnam, 7-0.
Four goals inside the opening 25 minutes from Lieke Mertens, Katja Snoeijs, Jill Roord and Esmee Brugts, who scored one of her two goals.
Debutant, Vietnam, were no match for their rampant opposition and could not help succumb to pressure every now and then. To suppress the situation, Duc Chung Mai was forced into making two defensive change before the half hour mark.
That did prove potent for some period but not enough to prevent the Dutch from scoring a fifth as Danielle van de Donk scores her first World Cup goal on the stroke of half time.
Esmee Brugts completed her brace three minutes before the hour mark as she pounced on a loose ball, firing into the top-right corner to make it 6-0.
Ten minutes later, Lieke Mertens had another goal ruled out for offside after VAR review but Andries Jonker eventually took Vietnam to the seventh heaven seven minutes from the end of the 90, as Jill Roord got her second to secure their top place finish in Group E.
In the other Group game, defending Champions, United States failed to make it seven points as they were held by debutant, Portugal.
Ana Capeta would have earn Portugal the biggest upset in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup but she missed a very big chance, which could have seen the USA eliminated from the group stage, in the added time of second half.
The Netherlands win the group with seven points followed by USA on five. An impressive debut outing isn’t enough for Portugal to earn a place in the next round while Haiti exit without scoring their first ever goal or earning a first ever point in the competition history.
Defending Champions and last time beaten finalist awaits the winner and runner-up of Group G respectively.
Hassan Afolabi
