Mark Parsons is no longer in charge of the Netherlands women’s national team.
The former Portland Thorns head coach and the KNVB jointly announced the news Wednesday, with the federation saying they had “jointly decided to end the collaboration.”
Parsons tweeted a personal statement as the news broke, thanking the players and staff for the welcome they gave him.
“I want you to know that I always worked with one goal in mind and that is to help this team move forward. I truly wish to have achieved better results with you,” wrote Parsons. “This has been a very challenging 12 months but I remain honored I have had the chance to work with these players and KNVB.”
🧡 pic.twitter.com/ePzOa3MbBZ
— Mark Parsons (@mparsons_1) August 10, 2022
“In the run-up to and at the European Championship, both the performances and the results were disappointing and we cannot afford that. The bar is high,” read a statement from the KNVB announcing the move. “The Netherlands was defending champion and also a finalist at the last World Cup, we want to participate for the prizes. With a view to the current World Cup qualifying series, it has been decided that someone else will be at the helm in the very short term.”
Parsons took the job following the Tokyo Olympics, with a brief overlap between coaching Portland and the Netherlands lasting until last November. During his tenure, the Dutch went 10W-5D-3L, only losing to longtime power France (twice) and eventual Euro 2022 winners England.
However, with expectations soaring after the Netherlands made the 2019 World Cup final, the nature of some of those results raised eyebrows. The loss to England was a 5-1 rout, while the Dutch needed late goals to secure home and away draws against the Czech Republic in World Cup qualifying.
That process was supposed to be straightforward, but those dropped points mean that in order to qualify directly, the Netherlands face a potential must-win match against Iceland in their group finale on September 6.
At Euro 2022, the Netherlands went out in the quarterfinals following a 1-0 extra time loss to France, but in truth the French dominated the game. Parsons drew some criticism from fans after opting to drop normal starter Jill Roord, who only entered as a halftime substitute on the day.
The Dutch finished second in the group stage on goal difference to Sweden after being forced to scrap their way to a 3-2 win over an underdog Portugal side, and relying on three goals in the final six minutes to beat Switzerland 4-1.
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