Donyell Malen looks in an interview with The Telegraph back to a much-discussed statement by Frank de Boer. According to the national coach who has since left, the the Dutch international could not play for more than an hour and was therefore substituted after 57 minutes in the lost eighth final against the Czech Republic (0-2). “It didn’t bother me at all,” says Malen.
“Donyell is a player who is explosive, but sixty minutes is almost his tax at the moment in these kinds of matches. We had already thought of that in advance. I initially wanted to bring Wout Weghorst, but Quincy can go up and down the side and also stands his ground defensively,” De Boer told the De Boer at the end of June NOS after the elimination from the European Championship. The trainer pulled Malen to the side after Matthijs de Ligt’s red card just before. “Whether it was a blunder on my part? It’s easy to talk from the side. I’m close and know that Donyell is a fantastic player, but that the cake is gone after sixty or seventy minutes. Hence the choice.”
Malen’s substitution raised doubts, as his speed could still cause danger in the man-less situation, was the thought of various analysts afterwards. “I thought: he is also emotional, because we were bowled out of the European Championship, which was super sour,” said Malen almost four months later. “Emotional people sometimes don’t say the most sensible things, but it didn’t fascinate me.”
“At Dortmund they also knew differently,” continues Malen, who missed a great chance in the game against the Czech Republic just before De Ligt’s red card to take the lead. “My missed chance against the Czechs? That didn’t cross my mind too much either, because it’s of no use to you as a player. Then you are in the way of yourself and others. It’s football. In a minute it went from ‘almost go through’ to ‘out’. Fortunately, we have the chance to show more at the World Cup within more than a year.”
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