Louis van Gaal has personally informed all dropouts from the World Cup selection by means of a bell. That is what the national coach says during the specially inserted press conference. Van Gaal spent nearly two hours on those cancellations, he announced. Jasper Cillessen is the biggest surprise of all dropouts. Early on Friday morning, reports began to trickle through that the NEC goalkeeper is not going to Qatar with the the Dutch.
“It’s not easy to cancel players just like that,” Van Gaal started the press conference. “I spent an hour and 45 minutes this morning to inform all players via FaceTime. I did the players, Frans Hoek the keepers. That was a tough job, I can tell you. I also took into account the fact that we have players who play in England. There is an hour time difference, but still I have seen players naked because they were still in bed or just got out of bed.”
Jeroen Stekelenburg then posed the inevitable question: “It is very tempting to ask which players you have seen naked, but I think we should skip that,” said the reporter of the NOS. “I think so,” said the national coach. “I canceled those players from half past eight to ten. Then I came to Zeist. Actually, we can now say, thank you for coming and see you in Qatar. I think I’ve been very clear.” He did not want to disclose which players Van Gaal has seen naked.
Brian Brobbey (Ajax), Devyne Rensch (Ajax), Guus Til (PSV), Mitchel Bakker (Bayer Leverkusen), Sven Botman (Newcastle United), Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich), Arnaut Danjuma (Villarreal), Micky van de Ven ( VfL Wolfsburg), Mark Flek (Freiburg), Pascal Struijk (Leeds United), Donyell Malen (Borussia Dortmund), Jordy Clasie (AZ) and Jasper Cillessen (NEC) will stay at home this winter. The Gelderlander already announced on Friday morning that the latter is very displeased with Van Gaal’s choice.