Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 12:36• Tom Rofekamp

Louis van Gaal leaves Andries Noppert out of his selection for the Nations League match with Poland. This is evident from the names that UEFA released on Thursday morning. Van Gaal may only include 23 players in his selection and chose Jasper Cillessen, Mark Flek and Remko Pasveer as the goalkeeper trio. A possible debut in the Dutch national team for Noppert will have to wait at least until Sunday, when it takes on Belgium.

After the loss of the injured Bruno Martins Indi, Van Gaal’s group still consists of 24 players. In order to reduce his selection to 23, the 71-year-old elector has therefore chosen to have Noppert take a seat in the stands. That means that a debut for Remko Pasveer and/or Kenneth Taylor is still possible. Just like Noppert, the Ajax duo was included in Van Gaal’s final selection for the first time.

The goalkeeper quartet of the Dutch was subjected to a special penalty test on Tuesday. Justin Bijlow and Kjell Scherpen were also present, who did not make the final selection. Van Gaal also originally had in mind to invite Tim Krul, but the Norwich City goalkeeper declined to do so. That means that a spot in the World Cup selection will definitely pass to the goalie who was still used by Van Gaal as a penalty killer during the 2014 World Cup.

Noppert has therefore fallen out of the boat after the penalty test for the away game against Poland. The 28-year-old goalkeeper of SC Heerenveen has only experienced his second season as first choice throughout his career. However, Noppert impressed in the first games of the new Eredivisie season and had only conceded one goal after five matches. It was enough reason for Van Gaal to let the sober goalie taste the Dutch national team. “Because he stops balls”, was the unconcealed explanation of the national coach about Noppert’s selection.


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