Netherlands boss Danny Blind has named his preliminary squad for the World Cup qualifiers in October.
- By Michael Bell
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After the opening draw in Sweden, Netherlands continue their World Cup qualifying campaign against Belarus at De Kuip on the 7th of October before hosting France in the Amsterdam Arena three days later.
Blind named his provisional squad for the ties on Tuesday with Lazio defender Stefan de Vrij included for the first time since he recovered from injury. The centre back last appeared for his country on the 6th of September last year.
Newcastle United’s Vurnon Anita and Feyenoord centre back Terence Kongolo are also involved, but Daryl Janmaat misses out after suffering a shoulder injury.
Arjen Robben is not yet ready to take his place in the squad, while Riechedly Bazoer, Tonny Vilhena, Memphis Depay and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar are all not picked.
The full squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Jasper Cillessen (Barcelona), Maarten Stekelenburg (Everton), Michel Vorm (Tottenham), Jeroen Zoet (PSV)
Defenders: Vurnon Anita (Newcastle United), Daley Blind (Manchester United), Jeffrey Bruma (VfL Wolfsburg), Virgil van Dijk (Southampton), Rick Karsdorp (Feyenoord), Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord) Kenny Tete (Ajax), Joël Veltman (Ajax), Ron Vlaar (AZ), Stefan de Vrij (Lazio), Jetro Willems (PSV)
Midfield: Jordy Clasie (Southampton), Jorrit Hendrix (PSV), Davy Klaassen (Ajax), Davy Pröpper (PSV), Bart Ramselaar (PSV), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray), Kevin Strootman (AS Roma) , Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool)
Attackers: Steven Berghuis (Feyenoord), Bas Dost (Sporting Lisbon), Vincent Janssen (Tottenham), Luuk de Jong (PSV), Luciano Narsingh (PSV), Quincy Promes (Spartak Moscow)
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The only position which I think should be re-consider to bring in a natural left winger. Depay or babel or maybe elia -if not injured( eventhough they are not on form but perhaps they can stand up on international match due their past experience ) Against the french we need Robben if not injured.
Where is PVA?
u r right. PVA should be in the list too.
Narsingh and Veltman again…jeez, these 2 should never be in the preselection, let alone the final squad.
I realize they are a bit short on wingers at the moment but even Jeremain Lens is 10x better than Narsingh.
Veltman has no business being in the national team. At least Janmaat and Van der Wiel (as bad as he is at times) are a threat going forward. Veltman can neither defend nor attack.
Veltman is a great defender when played at CB, but no he lacks the speed and attacking prowess to be an RB…He is great positionally and does well at building from the back.
Fair point that he’s better at CB than RB, but even so I’ve watched a number of Ajax matches and have found him lacking there as well at times. There are at least 4 CBs the Dutch have who are far better than him both positionally and in the air, and who play in tougher leagues to boot.
Hopefully he doesn’t make the final 23.
Robben ..Robben..Why not Robben ? Even after the scintillating return last night..He appears to be fully fit..
Absolutely! Bring him on with 25 to go. It could be the deciding factor. What is going on?
U are right… Robben should be part of the squad……specially againt France
Looking forward to seeing Virgil and Stefan side by side. It probably won’t happen against Belarus, but they need to start playing them together to see how it goes. Maybe second half.
Willems has to play left back behind Sneijder, not Blind.
And why is Van Aanholt not there as back up. (Oh, thats right, Blind is the coaches son.)
Right back is obviously an issue. Agree, Veltman is not a RB.
Strootman, Wijnaldum and Sneijder is sound.
Wide forwards need to be willing and able to get back and defend; and give space to play through Wijnaldum and Sneijder.
Big games for Berghuis and Promes. They need to show they deserve to be there. Why isn’t Robben there to come on when the game starts getting stretched?
Big game for Janssen.
They can do it.
I believe when the squad was named Robben still hadn’t a game under his belt. Klaassen is on fire this year and deserves a good chance, against Sweden he was unlucky and the keeper made some brilliant saves. Don’t know why Depay isn’t being given a go. Blind really likes to play players out of position. I’d probably go back to WC2014 and use a 5-3-2. I’d prefer they try a 4-2-3-1, and I still think Cillessen should be back to number one keeper, he’s better with his feet than Zoet and seems to command he’s defenders better. Sure he had a rough go with Ajax but Barça wanted him for a reason! They just don’t take anybody!