VALENCIENNES, France, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Netherlands took on a pair of second-half headers to eliminate Italy 2-0 for their first-ever semifinal appearance at the FIFA Women's World Cup here on Saturday.
Vivianne Miedema headed the Oranjeleeuwinnen in front through a free kick. Moments later, Sherida Spitse assisted another header of Stefanie Van Der Gragt with a free kick.
The Netherlands will face either Germany or Sweden in Wednesday's semifinal in Lyon.
The Dutch side had no changes to line-up which started against Japan in the last round, while Aurora Galli came in instead of Cristiana Girelli for Italy.
Staying on track for respective maiden semifinal appearance at the quadrennial competition, both teams managed few concrete scoring chances in sun-baked Valenciennes, with Italy's best opportunity arriving in the 36th minute, but it was squandered by forward Valentina Giacinti who fired a shot wide.
The Netherlands were awarded a free kick outside the box six minutes later, but Spitse saw her low shot saved by goalkeeper Laura Giuliani.
They stepped up their offensive quality after the restart, with Danielle van de Donk rattling the crossbar shortly afterwards and Dominique Bloodworth heading wide the bounced ball.
Miedema, the Dutch team's all-time leading scorer, snatched a deadlock breaker by pushing forward to nod Spitse's free kick home in the 70th minute.
The Oranjeleeuwinnen replicated their scoring way 10 minutes later. After another Spitse's free kick was sent in, Van Der Gragt rose highest to head it into the net.
The Dutch side held on to the advantage until the final whistle for their historic World Cup semifinal. Enditem
