Ronald Koeman had to deal with a big downer on Thursday morning. Sven Botman, Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Joey Veerman and Bart Verbruggen have left the training camp of the Dutch national team due to a virus infection. Jeroen Stekelenburg, the Dutch watcher of the NOSdoes not rule out that more players will follow who fall ill.
“They have been together for three days. If they have had a lot of contact with other players, it may just be that it does not stick to these five players,” says Stekelenburg. Radio 1. The reporter does not expect that Friday evening’s European Championship qualifying match with France in Saint-Denis will be canceled and made up at a later time. “If twelve players and two goalkeepers are available, then football will be played.”
Koeman called on Ryan Gravenberch, Kjell Scherpen and Stefan de Vrij as replacements for the five felled by the virus. It was the first time for Verbruggen and Veerman that they were included in the final selection of the Dutch national team. Gravenberch and Scherpen were called up by Erwin van de Looi for the Dutch Juniors and are now with that team at a training camp in Spain. Gravenberch, Scherpen and De Vrij will join Koeman’s selection in Paris.
The duel with the French is the first official match for Koeman since his return to the the Dutch squad. The national coach therefore starts his second period with a strongly weakened selection, as Frenkie de Jong and Steven Bergwijn had already dropped out injured. After the game against France on Friday evening, the the Dutch will receive Gibraltar in De Kuip on Monday evening. The other Group B countries in the European Championship qualifying series are Greece and Ireland.