Four years later, the Dutch finally qualified for the World Cup. 2 years previous they had again reached the 2013 European Championship, but did not survive the preliminary round. At the Qualification draw for the World Cup in Canada, they were again matched with Norway. Other group opponents were neighbor Belgium, whom they beat in the first game 4–0, Portugal, Greece and first timers Albania. After a 7–0 in Portugal, they lost out on direct qualification in the home games against Norway and Belgium losing 1-2 and drawing 1-1. However, on the final day of qualifying, the Dutch were able to secure their participation in the playoff games of the runners-up by winning in Norway. In the playoffs they qualified for the first time with two wins against the Scotland and, after a 1–1 home game, by a 2–1 victory in Italy. Both goals were scored by 18-year-old Vivianne Miedema, who ended European qualifying as topscorer with 16 goals. In the other confederations, only one player, Jamaica's Shakira Duncan, also scored 16 goals but failed to qualify for the finals. Duncan had scored 14 of her 16 goals in the pre-qualifiers against weaker teams. Together with Anja Mittag, who scored 11 goals in qualifying and five in the finals they were topscorers of the overall competition.