Louis van Gaal announces his first pre-selection two days earlier than planned. The brand new national coach of the Dutch national team would announce his first selection corps on Sunday, but has moved that moment to Friday afternoon. Van Gaal will hold a press conference at 1 p.m., in which he will indicate which players may compete for a final place in the selection for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
The the Dutch squad will play three qualifying matches at the beginning of September, against Norway (September 1), Montenegro (September 4) and Turkey (September 7). It will be Van Gaal’s first games since his return as national coach. Van Gaal took over from Frank de Boer this month after a disappointing European championship. It will be his third term as national coach for the seventy-year-old Van Gaal.
Van Gaal has two weeks to assess the players, as the final roster will be announced on Friday, August 27. It is not known why it was decided to bring the pre-selection forward by two days. The new Eredivisie season starts next Friday. The the Dutch squad is currently second in the group behind Turkey. Only the group heads qualify directly for the World Cup in Qatar. The numbers two get a second chance via the play-offs.
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