Joël Drommel, Nathan Aké and Marten de Roon are in the stands tonight when the Netherlands takes on Gibraltar in the World Cup qualifier. National coach Louis van Gaal does not need the three in De Kuip. It is for the second time in a row that Aké and Drommel are excluded from the competition selection. De Roon falls by the wayside now that Georginio Wijnaldum returns from suspension.
Justin Bijlow is expected to take his place again under the bar. Tim Krul and Mark Fleks are preferred by Van Gaal on the bench over Drommel. De Roon did not play for a minute against Latvia last Friday and now has to give up his place in the match selection to Wijnaldum. Since Van Gaal’s appointment, De Roon has not gone further than seventeen minutes in the Dutch against Montenegro.
With three rounds to go, the Netherlands has two points ahead of number two Norway and a much better goal difference. The lead on number three Turkey is four points. Only the group winner qualifies directly for the World Cup and the number two goes into the play-offs. The match between the Netherlands and Gibraltar starts tonight at 8.45 pm.
Probable position the Dutch: Bijlow; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Blind; Wijnaldum, De Jong, Klaassen; Berghuis, Depay and Lang.
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