Mark Fleks makes his debut on Friday evening as a selection player for the the Dutch squad. During the World Cup qualifier visiting Latvia, he is preferred as the third goalkeeper to Joël Drommel, who is referred to the stands by national coach Louis van Gaal. A ‘weird’ choice, say analysts Pierre van Hooijdonk and Rafael van der Vaart during the preview at NOS.
The 28-year-old Flek has so far made 21 Bundesliga appearances on behalf of SC Freiburg, in which he impressed Van Gaal enough to be included in the the Dutch selection. Against Latvia, he is the third goalkeeper behind Justin Bijlow and Tim Krul, and that is at the expense of Drommel. “It is striking that he is sitting on the bench and Drommel in the stands,” says Van Hooijdonk.
“What does this mean for Drommel? It is of course wonderful for Flek, but dude… Drommel is a talented keeper who may be in a slightly lesser period, but of course this gives him an extra hit. Apparently Flek is now also over Drommel in the hierarchy at the Dutch”, concludes Van Hooijdonk, whose opinion is also shared by Van der Vaart.
“I think it’s crazy yes; I think it’s a special choice,” says the analyst. “I don’t think it happened often that a third keeper has been called up that we all don’t know. We are actually seeing him for the first time now. Super fun for that boy and I know from Germany that he is doing well. Only if you have Drommel and Bijlow… then I think this is a strange choice. Especially in such an unimportant match”, says Van der Vaart.
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