Marten de Roon is proud of achieving 25 international matches in the service of the Dutch. The midfielder was on the field against Austria for 73 minutes on Thursday (2-0 win) and spoke in the dressing room afterwards. “I did say a few nice words in the dressing room afterwards,” he says. “That I am very proud of those 25 caps and especially because I was allowed to play the 25th during the European Championship and because I achieved it with this group.”
De Roon made his debut in November 2016 under national coach Danny Blind in the Dutch national team. He replaced Bart Ramselaar in the final phase of the World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg (1-3 win), but did not play in the remainder of that qualifying cycle. In particular, from March 2018, De Roon grew into a fixed value at the Dutch. He is part of the the Dutch squad that qualified again for a final round after two missed tournaments. “That was the beginning of The New Wave”, De Roon says during a press moment on Friday.
The man of the match was not Denzel Dumfries or Frenkie de Jong
The report figures of Voetbalzone of the players of the Dutch.
“After that, we have made great strides as a group. It feels like a privilege to be part of this. When I look at how we treat each other, the way we work, how new players are received, I think that’s very nice”, says De Roon, who puts his milestone of 25 international matches into perspective with a wink. “You could say: if De Roon can do it, everyone can.” The question is whether De Roon will play international number 26 against North Macedonia on Monday: the the Dutch squad is already head of the group and Frank de Boer may be performing rotations.
An additional disadvantage for De Roon is that he is on edge. The midfielder took his first yellow card of the tournament against Austria; with a card against North Macedonia, he is suspended for the eighth final. De Roon indicates that De Boer is the one who decides whether he will take action on Monday. “It is true that I play something else with a yellow card in my pocket. Then you really have to be careful. At the same time, and I was talking about that with Matthijs (de Ligt, ed.): it also ensures that you are sharp, alert. Then you might get in less quickly, for example.”
De Roon doubts whether it is a good idea to completely change the team. “Ruud van Nistelrooij (assistant national coach, ed.) said that he easily got through the group twice with the the Dutch during a final round and that a lot of changes were made in the last game. The next round they were out. You can change quite a bit, that doesn’t have to be everyone, does it? The most important thing is that the attitude is the same as during the first two games.”
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