In Focus: City summer signing Roord ready to claim World Cup crown

Toby Rathborne
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Jill Roord will be crucial to the Netherlands' chances of winning the Women's World Cup this summer
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Netherlands star Jill Roord is gunning for Women's World Cup glory this summer. 

The 26-year-old recently completed a stunning switch at club level, joining Manchester City from Champions League finalists Wolfsburg. 

She fell agonisingly short both in Europe and domestically with the German side, narrowly missing out on the league title to Bayern Munich. 

Roord will be eager to make amends with her country — and winning the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand would be the perfect way to banish those disappointing memories before linking up with her new team-mates.

Midfield maestro

Roord is a central midfielder who is usually deployed in an advanced role from which she can drive forward and attack. 

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In league competition for Wolfsburg last term, she took 47 shots, finding the back of the net six times in 18 appearances. 

The Dutch international also contributed 46 shot-creating actions — 36 of which were open-play passes. 

Roord is quick with the ball at her feet too, completing 15 of her 18 take-ons.

Jill Roord was both a goal threat and a creative force for Wolfsburg last season

No Viv? No problem

The Netherlands will be particularly keen to harness Roord's attacking talents after losing star striker Vivianne Miedema to injury. 

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City's new No20 scored seven goals in World Cup qualifying, one behind the stricken Arsenal forward, and her knack for arriving late in the box will be particularly necessary in Miedema's absence. 

With Victoria Pelova and Lieke Martens in support, Roord has the potential to net plenty of goals from midfield and fire her nation towards World Cup glory.

Jill Roord will be forced to shoulder a greater portion of the Netherlands' goalscoring burden this summer

Eyeing silverware

Roord's ambitions do not end with the World Cup, though, expressing her desire to challenge for silverware at her new club. 

She said: "If you play for City, you compete for everything you are involved in and that is what we will be aiming to do. 

"With the quality we have here, anything is possible, so I hope that we will be very successful together."

New challenges

The Dutch midfielder also revealed her excitement about lending her skills to City after her club-record switch and taking on the challenge of being a senior figure in a young squad. 

She said: "I've always thought City is a big club and I've always really liked the way they play. I think that suits me perfectly. 

"There's a lot of quality in the team but also it's a very young team with a lot of potential. That's something that I find very important. 

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"I like new things and challenges and I hope to get that potential together out of the team."

Oranje redemption

Jill Roord is an important figure for the Netherlands and will be key to their World Cup chances

This summer, the Netherlands will aim to go one step further than they did at the last World Cup, where they lost in the final. 

Reigning champions USA completed their title defence courtesy of goals from Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle and and will likely be the Oranje's greatest threat Down Under.

Andries Jonker's side come into the tournament in strong form, having won seven of their last 10 outings — but it is Roord's contributions that are likely to be decisive in the Netherlands' pursuit of a first World Cup title.

Tags

Women's World CupNetherlands WNetherlandsManchester CityManchester City Women

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