Danielle van de Donk is relishing the tag of ‘underdog’ ahead of their World Cup Final showdown with the USA on Sunday.
Danielle van de Donk has followed up her amazing season at club level with Arsenal by proving herself to be an integral member of the Dutch team on their run to the final.
Speaking to the media after helping her side win their World Cup semi-final against Sweden, the midfielder had a lot to say.
“I love being underdogs,” said Van de Donk. “It’s the best role you can be in. I like it. I don’t know the English word but I don’t think they [the US] think we’re that good. Underestimate? Yes, that’s it. That is going to be an advantage for us.
“If they do [underestimate us], we’ll show them wrong. We’re going to prove ourselves and show them what we’ve got. We might surprise them.
“You are in the final, so it’s everything or nothing. We’re going to give it everything we’ve got. Whatever the result is going to be, it’s going to be amazing for us.
“We are European champions, not just anyone,” Van de Donk added. “I’m very proud of the team, I’m very proud of the Netherlands and I think we came this far as well because we have such amazing support all the time.
“I don’t think she’s [Alex Morgan] going to score against us,” she said with a laugh. “We’re going to prove ourselves and show them what we’ve got. We might surprise them.”
Former Arsneal defender, Dominique Bloodworth added, “The tournament has been long, the season has been long for a lot of players,” said the centre-back. “You can tell that players are getting tired but at the end it’s just going to be a mental game and giving it a little extra. I think at the end you could see that we had still a little bit in us to fight to the end and it was enough. So we’re just going to continue and hopefully we can do something great on Sunday, as well.”
She added of the USA: “We all know they are very confident but we are also very confident. We haven’t been playing our best football but have still reached the final, so that’s something incredible for our nation.”
