The KNVB have confirmed that Kevin Strootman will miss Netherlands World Cup qualifiers with Belarus and Sweden.
- By Michael Bell
- Follow Michael on Twitter
The midfielder suffered a muscle injury during the first half of Roma’s win over AC Milan at the weekend, but was still expected to join up with the Oranje squad.
However, the KNVB have now confirmed that Strootman will miss the final two World Cup qualifiers. Dick Advocaat has decided against calling up a replacement and will go forward with 24 players.
Netherlands travel to Belarus on Saturday before hosting Sweden on Tuesday.
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its good btw he was awful in the qualifiers and he is the main reason of the sweden goal aginst us that might make the team dont qualify
i hope also not to see wijnaldum in the next two matches
I couldn’t agree more!
If we don’t get a playoff spot, it won’t be because of one play, it will be because the entire qualifying campaign was bad.
Wijnaldum hasn’t been great for Oranje, but who should replace him? Who is doing better right now at the EPL level?
I’m forced to agree with LVH. Wijnaldum has been poor, but there are simply no better options available. You need players who are playing in big leagues regularly, and Wijnaldum is one of the few front-six players who does at present.
It’s a sad state of affairs for Dutch football. They used to be able to have their pick of 3 or 4 players in each front-six position that played consistently in the top leagues in the world. No longer.
I’ve been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be able to watch most of the Netherlands’ qualifying games this time around – it’s clear that Strootman, whilst obviously an important player for Roma just does not fit into a typical Dutch system. He’s too ponderous and slows the game down as all good Italians do…not ideal for Dutch forwards looking for space to run into. Wijnaldum has also been poor, though perhaps giving him more license to join attacks would maximise his talents more.
There seems to be a general lack of confidence within Dutch football just now. Yes, perhaps the quality is not there but also the KNVB are paying the price for encouraging the practice of a near non-contact sport. The Dutch brought their style to Barcelona and somehow forgot to maintain their own game of pressing to win the ball back quickly and moving the ball around at a dizzying pace. It might take Dutch football a decade to reclaim it’s prestige…I just hope that the KNVB and the clubs have also identified the issues holding back the Dutch….