A month ago, Johansson was less optimistic due to the list of experienced international players he doesn’t have at his disposal at the European Championships. He misses long-time sufferers Danic Snelder and Larissa Nosser and can’t count on Louis Abing and Tess Wester due to pregnancy. In addition, he was afraid that he would lose Dion Hocher due to a hand injury.

“I had an important conversation with the selection at the beginning of the training period. We decided not to talk about the players who are no longer around. It worked, because other players stood up and took their chance because I was happy to see this development.”

For example, the experienced coach saw that Yara Ten Holt presented himself as a prestigious goalkeeper and that Estafana Pullman was revived. “She has recovered very well from serious knee injuries and I can now use her in different ways. It is very nice to see that she is a really good team player. I have also asked for leadership from players like Angela Mallesten, Kelly Duelfer, Inger Smits and Laura van der Heijden and they all delivered.”

The Netherlands will start the European Championships in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro on Saturday against Romania. Then Johansson’s team plays in the group stage against North Macedonia and France. The top three in the group advance to the main role, but points count. In the previous European Championship 2020, the team finished sixth. Before that, there were bronze in 2018 and silver in 2016.