The Netherlands will meet Argentina in the women’s Junior World Cup final in a repeat of the 2023 decider after the former won a thriller over Belgium.

The two highest-scoring teams of the tournament produced a duel of finely read presses, balanced risks and very narrow margins.

In the end, no goals accrued with Belgium going closest when they got the ball in the net but saw the goal ruled out on video review for the ball crossing the endline in the build-up.

And so it went to shoot-out where Dutch composure proved decisive. Guusje Moes opened the scoring sequence, Eline Jansen added another in round three and then Noor van den Nieuwenhof completed a 3-0 shoot-out success

Player of the Match Maud van den Heuvel said of the success: “It feels incredible, it was such a tough match and Belgium pushed us to the limit, but we stayed calm and studied their shoot-outs well. Saving three shoot-outs makes us very happy. We are a very united team and we want to go as far as possible.”

For Argentina, their passage to the final was simpler with three second half goals seeing them win 3-0 against China.

The sides will now meet for gold on Saturday while Belgium face China in the bronze medal match.