Netherlands blanks South Africa at Women's World Cup

Daphne van Domselaar made seven saves en route to a clean sheet as the Netherlands blanked South Africa 2-0 on Saturday in Sydney to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Van Domselaar's final save came in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time as she turned away Thembi Kgatlana's right-footed strike to preserve the shutout.

Jill Roord provided the Netherlands with all the offense it would need with her ninth-minute goal, but Lineth Beerensteyn doubled the advantage when she found the back of the net in the 68th minute.

The Netherlands will face Spain on Thursday to determine who earns a spot in the semifinals.

Kaylin Swart made four saves for South Africa, which maintained possession for just 30 percent of the match.

Roord opened the scoring by sending a header past Swart following a corner. South Africa nearly got an equalizer moments later, but Kgatlana's shot from the right side was too high in the 12th minute.

South Africa tried to break through right before intermission, bombarding van Domselaar with a pair of attempts in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time -- one from Kgatlana and one from Wendy Shongwe. But van Domselaar held firm, sending the Netherlands into the break with the 1-0 edge.

Lieke Martens seemingly gave the Netherlands some breathing room early in the second half, but her goal was overturned by VAR in the 54th minute. It didn't matter, though, as Beerensteyn struck 14 minutes later to essentially ice the match.

The Netherlands finished with just one more shot attempt than South Africa (14-13), which managed to put one more shot on target (7-6) despite losing.