Netherlands crashed out of the Women's Euros on Sunday, falling to a 5-2 defeat by France that meant they finished third in Group D, condemning the 2017 champions to an early exit after another disappointing defensive collapse.
They took a 2-1 lead in the first half but had no answer in the second when French attacker Delphine Cascarino ran riot, creating one goal and scoring two more as France roared to victory to make it three wins from three in the group, while the Dutch managed only a single victory over bottom side Wales.
"We went through the wall today we gave it all today unfortunately we gave away the 2-2 and then something broke in the team so I will not look at the end result – of course, it was disappointing," Dutch coach Andries Joncker said.
"But you know that when it happens, you can suffer a heavy defeat, but even after France scored the fourth goal, the team did everything to prevent a bigger loss."
The Dutch suffered a similar defensive meltdown against England as they slumped to a 4-0 defeat in their second group game that left them needing a three-goal win over France to progress.
They never really looked like getting it, but Joncker told his players after the game that he was proud of them.
"(I told them) that we played a fantastic first half, that we were a good team, but it was not good enough. Looking at the three games together, I think we did not show enough in order to make it through to the next round," he said.
"We made a number of individual mistakes and we literally were playing with the knife at our throats, because we conceded a number of goals, which meant that we had to score even more goals, so my conclusion is that the potential of this team is immense, but that currently we're not there yet."