Rafael van der Vaart and Pierre van Hooijdonk are completely surprised by Ronald Koeman's decision to field Steven Bergwijn. In the eighth finals of the European Championship, it is not Donyell Malen, but the Ajax winger who gets a starting spot. “I had completely forgotten about him,” says Van der Vaart.

The Dutch national team will try to reach the quarter finals of a European Championship for the first time since 2008. In an attempt to sideline Romania in the round of 16, national coach Ronald Koeman chooses to keep Joey Veerman and Lutsharel Geertruida on the sidelines. They are replaced by Denzel Dumfries and Xavi Simons. Furthermore, Malen surprisingly makes way for Bergwijn.

“Surprising,” concludes Van Hooijdonk. “Also because I thought Malen did a great job with his attacking actions. Unwise? Well, I just find it really striking. Malen was not a dissonant in the team. In fact: I thought he was one of the better ones.”

“He is a player who is also fast. He will not be as fast as Frimpong, but he will also have to create depth on the right. You also see that Bergwijn comes into the ball a lot, also at Ajax,” said the former striker.

The news that Bergwijn is playing also comes as a complete surprise to Van der Vaart. “Surprising, I hadn’t thought of him at all actually.”

“Normally someone who does well gets noticed and gets a chance in the next game from the starting line-up. This is out of the blue. We all know what he can do, but he has had a very difficult time this season.”

“Maybe Koeman hopes that he will have a whim this tournament. We hear that he is supposedly training great, but of course it is only training. But if he has it on his hips, then of course he is a great player. He has played well with Dumfries more often.”

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