Louis van Gaal will not call up a replacement for the injured Bruno Martins Indi. The defender of AZ dropped out in the match against Ajax (2-1 victory) with a muscle injury and thus sees the Nations League matches against Poland and Belgium pass by. Van Gaal is going to work with a 24-man selection due to the disappearance of Martins Indi.
The coach announced at the press conference prior to the Nations League matches that he no longer counts on the arrival of Martins Indi. “He was injured yesterday and will probably not report again. An MRI scan will be made today, but it looks bleak.” Journalist Jeroen Stekelenburg of the NOS then asked if there would be a replacement, to which Van Gaal replied with ‘no’. At the center of the back, the national coach has a choice of Nathan Aké, Virgil van Dijk, Matthijs de Ligt, Stefan de Vrij and Jurriën Timber.
View the report with Andries Noppert here.
Stekelenburg then asks why Van Gaal opts for a 24-man selection, while he can have 26 players at the World Cup. “We have a lot of injured players or injured players who have just finished one game,” Van Gaal said. “We are not a rehabilitation center. So it has to do with that. Plus the fact that as a player you have to be able to display your qualities in all team functions. Then you compare with the players you have already selected and then this selection appears to consist of that. .”
Despite sticking to his 24-man roster, Van Gaal has sent special invitations to Justin Bijlow and Kjell Scherpen. Van Gaal wants to see the two in action for a special penalty project. Scherpen, who is with the Young the Dutch, is temporarily called to ‘the big the Dutch’ for this. Van Gaal sees skill in penalties as ‘decisive for final tournaments’, he said at the press conference.
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