Kiesel-Griffioen drives Oranje on

So influential was midfielder Annemieke Kiesel-Griffioen in the Netherlands' opening 2-0 victory over Ukraine in UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ Group A that coach Vera Pauw turned to her colleagues on the bench early on and said: "It seems like she is everywhere on the pitch."

Top player
An hour or so later those impressions were reinforced by the decision of the UEFA Technical Team to name Kiesel-Griffioen as the Carlsberg Player of the Match, a deserved recognition of her all-action, driving performance in midfield. The FCR 2001 Duisburg player said it was "an honour to get this prize" but preferred to shift the attention on to her team-mates. "It was a team performance and we did well as a team," she said.

Regular scorer 
In her younger days, Kiesel-Griffioen was an attacking midfielder and regularly found herself on the scoresheet, but she proved by the number of times she broke up Ukraine attacks just how adept she is in the enforcer role. "I enjoy it and when I watch games on the television I look closely at the players who are in the same position," said the 29-year-old, who won the 2008/09 UEFA Women's Cup with her German club.

Strong runner
"Today I was happy when I got the chance to stop them getting near our goal. I did not do a lot going forward but I was able to help out all the time in the middle. Playing in this position, working hard and running around a lot helps me become strong."

No fear
Even Pauw was surprised at the maturity of the Netherlands display, highlighting the fact that they cast aside any inhibitions at appearing on the big stage for the first time by producing a high-quality performance. "We really wanted to win the first game and we are really happy now we have these three points," Kiesel-Griffioen added. "They were important for us but we know we have two more games and we need more points to get to the quarter-finals.

Improvements sought 
"After half-time it is true that Ukraine were more on top but we had a 2-0 lead and were happy," she continued. "We will have to see the game and analyse it. We need to see what happened and what we can do better in the next game. We are looking forward to our second game especially as it is against Finland in Helsinki. Hopefully the tournament will get better and better for us."