Netherland-Ukraine 26-28

The Netherlands out of the Euro 2002

For the second time, the Netherlands lost a close match. Ukraine won the match by 28-26. This means that the Netherlands are already out of Euro 2002.

By Peter Bang Overby

The Netherlands were in the lead once in the match - at the score 1-0. For the rest of the match Ukraine had the lead. And halfway into the first half the Ukrainian team had great opportunities for creating a decisive lead. Ukraine got a lead of 10-6 by an elegant shot by left wing, Oxana Raykhel. But the Netherlands soon retaliated through one of their well known fast throw-offs. A small rehearsed play and Olga Assink was open on the 6-metre line and scored. This became characteristic of the match since every time Ukraine was about to obtain a decisive lead, the Netherlands fought their way back into the match. In the first half the Netherlands never got closer than close. In the 22nd minute the Netherlands reduced the Ukrainian lead to 10-11 through a well-played fast break. But then Ukraine played hardball until the half-time break which meant that the Ukrainians had a 3-goal lead at half-time, 14-17. Without Olga Assink the Netherlands would have had even more problems - she scored 8 of the 14 Dutch goals.

Exciting finish

In the second half the two teams were mostly even until Dutch Diane Lamein got her third two-minute suspension and a red card. Olena Yatsenko took advantage of this player majority and scored two goals from the right wing. This meant that Ukraine were suddenly in the lead by five goals (22-17) five minutes into the second half. But one of the Netherlands's star players, Natasja Burgers, took matters into her own hands and scored two almost identical goals on hip shots. Again Ukraine had to watch their lead shrink to just one goal. The two teams follow each other nicely, still with Ukraine a small step ahead. A couple of masterly saves by the Dutch goalkeeper Joke Tienstra resulted in an exciting finish. With four minutes to go the Netherlands scored to 26-27. Ukraine kept their cool, though, although the Dutch fans did what they could to stress the Eastern European team.

Close and yet so far away

Ukraine scored in the very last seconds and won by 28-26. The defeat was particularly gruelling for the Netherlands since they also lost yesterday's match to France by 25-24. The Dutch top scorer, Olga Assnik, put words to their frustration.
'We are very sad. We fought well, both today and yesterday and we were so close. But unfortunately we make some expensive mistakes towards the end', said a visibly affected Olga Assink.
Although every result goes the Netherlands's way in Sunday's matches they are still out of the Euro 2002. In case that two teams have the same number of points, mutual matches weigh more heavily than a team's score, and the Netherlands have lost to both France and Ukraine.