Awesome Miedema leads Netherlands through
Thursday, October 25, 2012
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Vivianne Miedema became the competition's all-time top scorer on 18 goals in helping the Netherlands through first qualifying round Group 8 while debutants Montenegro impressed.
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Vivianne Miedema became the UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship's all-time leading scorer in helping the Netherlands cruise through first qualifying round Group 8.
Miedema managed six goals on the opening day as the first national team from Montenegro to play in women's competition were beaten 11-0. Then, two days later, she hit a championship-record eight in a single game as the hosts put 15 past Kazakhstan without reply. The Netherlands' second qualifying round berth was secured with a 16-0 win against Ukraine, Miedema scoring four more to end with an unprecedented mini-tournament haul of 18 – which, added to her two goals last season, took the 15-year-old's career tally to 20, ahead of the previous mark of 15 held by Kyra Malinowski and Elin Rubensson.
While the Netherlands were giving Montenegro a baptism of fire on the opening day, Ukraine were thrashing Kazakhstan 6-0 with a Viktoriya Korniychuk hat-trick. The home side – and Miedema – continued to score freely two days later but the plaudits were shared with Montenegro, as Milica Vulić’s penalty in first-half added time clinched a historic 1-0 victory against Ukraine.
Ukraine could still have gone through had they overcome the Netherlands but became the third team to fall to a heavy Dutch defeat, Jill Roord firing two hat-tricks to outscore Miedema by two in that match. The Netherlands' 42 goals without reply is a competition mini-tournament record.
Meanwhile, Montenegro followed up their Ukraine scalp by beating Kazakhstan 4-1 thanks to Tamara Bojat's treble though the scale of their loss to the Netherlands means they cannot progress as one of the five best runners-up; Finland and Italy now know they will advance by that reckoning along with Belgium.