Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 10:08• Chris Meijer

If it is up to Wim Kieft, Maarten Stekelenburg will be preferred under the bar in the the Dutch line-up. National coach Frank de Boer decided to replace Jasper Cillessen in his European Championship selection with Marco Bizot after a positive corona test. Kieft writes in his column The Telegraph that De Boer probably already intended to give preference to Stekelenburg and that the elector foresaw problems with Cillessen on the reserve bench.

“Stekelenburg is then on target. I think he would have kept anyway and that it was not bad for De Boer that Jasper Cillessen contracted a corona infection. I think De Boer foresaw problems with Cillessen on the bench,” says Kieft. If it is up to the former striker, the the Dutch squad will play with a 4-3-3 formation in the group stage of the European Championship. His defense would then consist of Daley Blind, Stefan de Vrij, Matthijs de Ligt and Denzel Dumfries or Jurriën Timber. In midfield, Kieft opts for Ryan Gravenberch, Frenkie de Jong and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Kieft would opt for a three-headed attack with Memphis Depay, Donyell Malen and Steven Berghuis. “The last two are in good shape and still seem to be out of the loop. During their raids, they slightly outrun themselves, but Malen and Berghuis will have to adjust to saving things if things don’t go well with 5-3-2. And that will happen,” predicts Kieft. According to the analyst, a basic place for Malen should be at the expense of Wout Weghorst, despite the fact that the VfL Wolfsburg striker is ‘good for the atmosphere’ in his words and Kieft respects his perseverance.

“It’s just very clever to fight yourself in the base for the European Championship from scratch. It doesn’t look polished, but he is more agile than Luuk de Jong. The distance should not be too great, then he always crawls behind his man at the right time and in scoring position. That is a great quality of him and you have to use Weghorst as a fellow player on that,” says Kieft. “All this does not alter the fact that Donyell Malen is a better striker for the Dutch national team than Weghorst for me.”

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