Monday, June 7, 2021 at 08:14• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

Willem van Hanegem wonders why Cody Gakpo is in the European Championship selection of the Dutch national team. The PSV attacker was one of the surprises in the squad of national coach Frank de Boer, but in the friendly matches against Scotland (2-2) and Georgia (3-0 win), he did not leave the stands. The Dutch Juniors could have used Gakpo better at the recently ended European Under-21 Championship in Hungary and Slovenia, concludes Van Hanegem.

Van Hanegem thinks modesty is important and is mainly referring to Wout Weghorst, who was in the starting lineup on Sunday evening and also scored his first goal as an the Dutch international. He celebrated this rather exuberantly, almost with tears in his eyes. “He scored a goal and that was fun. But he must be careful not to claim all the attention,” emphasizes the curve in his column in the General Newspaper. “Not those of defenders, that’s good. But from the cameras.”

“He should not exaggerate in his behaviour. Modesty is important.” Yet that is a characteristic that can also have a negative effect. “Cody Gakpo is modest and he is in the stands. Already two practice matches. Then he would have been better off with Jong Oranje. He could have used that against the Germans at the European Championships last week,” he refers to the elimination by Young Germany (1-2 defeat) in the semifinals of the tournament.

Mike Verweij from The Telegraph also questions De Boer’s choices on Monday. “Instead of a pat on the head because of the limited playing time at Manchester United and missing the youth European Championship respectively, he let Donny van de Beek and Cody Gakpo take a seat in the stands.” The journalist points out that it will not benefit the self-confidence of the two and it is also ‘not useful’. “With their stand in the stands, De Boer makes two controversial choices when making his final European Championship selection, once again food for discussion.”

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