The Dutch national team can get to work tonight. The team of national coach Frank de Boer will take on Spain, the number six in the FIFA world rankings, in the Johan Cruijff ArenA at 8.45 p.m. For both countries, it is a game in which some players will be spared, because next weekend and next week, confrontations in the Nations League are on the program that will be more valued. Still, a lot is at stake for the Netherlands tonight.

Last month, De Boer expressed his dissatisfaction with a friendly match against Mexico just before two matches in the Nations League. Because Nations League matches against Bosnia & Herzegovina (0-0) and Italy (1-1) followed days later, De Boer was forced to save players for his debut as national coach. The game against Mexico was lost 0-1 and the game was not to write home about. It ensured that De Boer had a false start and had a tough international match. The game against Italy, however, offered hope, as the game that Orange showed was at times impressive. In the run-up to the game with Spain, De Boer discussed the overcrowded schedule again. Money rules, he said aptly. Despite injuries and corona infections, the matches continue and, according to De Boer, it is a matter of time before the next player enters the rag basket.

Unwanted practice match
The scheduled exhibition games in the overcrowded international periods are a result of commercial contracts to which UEFA and KNVB are attached. The Telegraph writes that the European Football Association has included a series of friendly matches in contracts. The plan was to complete these duels in the spring, but the matches were moved due to the corona crisis. Only against a payment of millions of euros could unions get out of these duels. “It is at the expense of the health of players. We’ve been talking about this for a while, almost a decade I think. Then we said: we have to play every three weeks on Wednesdays. We liked that a lot. Now we do that every week. It just keeps going, but we can’t stop it ”, said the Dutch national coach.

De Boer has considered putting together a huge Orange selection, which would have enabled him to set up a B-team against Spain. He chose to call up 25 players, but also saw a number of players drop out. Matthijs de Ligt, Virgil van Dijk and Jasper Cillessen are missing due to injuries and had not been called up, while Steven Bergwijn (groin injury) and Tony Vilhena (corona) have left the training camp. In view of the upcoming duels with Bosnia & Herzegovina and Poland, the Netherlands will not play in the strongest possible line-up tonight. “There will be boys who also start against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday. Five internationals will play ninety minutes. They do not start against Bosnia. Actually, it is constant planning and calculating, ”De Boer explained during a press conference in Zeist on Tuesday.

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Crucial international period Orange
De Boer played with the idea of ​​expanding his selection with, for example, players from the ‘category Wout Weghorst’, supplemented with youth internationals such as Sven Botman, Mitchel Bakker and Javairo Dilrosun. “It has crossed my mind to do it like this”, De Boer is quoted by it Algemeen Dagblad. “Italy did that last month. In their practice match against Moldova, only one Italian who was in the starting line-up later played against us. But I decided otherwise, also because we know how important this match against Spain is. ” Despite the fact that it is an exhibition game, there is indeed something at stake against the team of national coach Luis Enrique. “The top ten European countries will be group leaders in the World Cup qualifying draw next month. We are now exactly tenth on the list. ”

The draw for the World Cup qualification will take place on 7 December. 55 European countries are divided into six pots, with the ten highest ranked countries in the FIFA world rankings disappearing into Pot 1. Orange is in tenth place (excluding countries outside Europe) and feels the hot breath of Switzerland on its neck. The difference with the Swiss is namely six points and the draw is based on the FIFA rankings of November 26. This international match period is therefore crucial for the upcoming draw for the qualification of the World Cup in 2022. The group winners will qualify for the World Cup qualification directly for the global final tournament, which will be played in Qatar in November and December 2022. The numbers two have to qualify through the play-offs, together with two countries from the Nations League. Although friendly international matches count less heavily for the world ranking than duels in the Nations League, a victory over Spain is more than welcome. Switzerland can therefore still pass Orange, but this international period does have a tough schedule. The Swiss play against Belgium (friendly), Spain and Ukraine (Nations League).

Return Klaassen, debut Bizot
Davy Klaassen who will at least get playing time against Spain is. The midfielder recently returned to Ajax and has seen his good game in Amsterdam rewarded with an invitation from the national coach. Frenkie de Jong is looking forward to being on the field with the Ajax player. “I look forward to playing with him”, said the Barcelona midfielder on Tuesday during the press conference about Klaassen, who already knows from their time together at Ajax. “Although I haven’t played very much with him yet. In our time at Ajax I was not yet a basic player. But Davy is a very good player, always has been, and what I have now seen of him at Ajax, he is doing very well. It is very nice to have him there. ”

Marco Bizot will make his debut against Spain. The AZ keeper has often been part of the Orange selection, but was kept from a starting place by the competition. Now that Cillessen is absent and Justin Bijlow has had to cancel an injury, De Boer chooses Bizot under the bar against Spain. Norwich City goalkeeper Tim Krul will play the upcoming games in the Nations League. “Krul will start the other two games, normally. In the unlikely event that something should happen to him, Bizot has already had his baptism of fire.” Joël Drommel, who is working on a good season at FC Twente, is the third choice. “Drommel has developed very well. He is having a fantastic season. In consultation with goalkeeper coach Patrick Lodewijks we decided to bring Drommel with us. ”

There is a lot of respect from Spain in the run-up to tonight’s game. “The name of the stadium represents the idea of ​​the Dutch school – good football – and actually says it all,” said Luis Enrique on Tuesday during the press moment in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. “I’ve had Dutch coaches and colleagues who have become friends. I like to come back here, because it makes for good memories. ” He is also full of praise for the Dutch national coach. “I have been a teammate of De Boer for many years (at Barcelona, ​​ed.) And we have a great relationship. His football idea is in line with that of Dutch football and I hope that he will have a lot of success after the match against us. “Just like the Orange squad, Spain will not play in the strongest formation. Luis Enrique has indicated that he will rotate. starts at 8.45 p.m. and is led by Italian referee Davide Massa.