The Netherlands squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers was announced on Friday with one notable absentee. Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst was, for the third squad in a row, left out by Frank de Boer.
- By Michael Bell
- Follow Michael on Twitter
Wolfsburg are currently sitting third in the Bundesliga and going for a Champions League spot, in part down to the goals of Wout Weghorst. The striker is having an excellent campaign so far, scoring 16 league goals and adding six assists in 25 league games. That is two short of his best ever league campaign, which saw him net 18 times in the Eredivisie for AZ during the 2017/18 campaign.
This calendar year, Weghorst has been involved in eleven goals (seven goals and four assists), which puts him in good company. In Europe’s top five leagues, only Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Romelu Lukaku, Luis Muriel, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Jadon Sancho have been involved in more goals this year.
However, this still isn’t enough for Frank de Boer, who has once again decided to leave Weghorst out of his Netherlands squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with Turkey, Latvia, and Gibraltar.
Weghorst made his Netherlands debut under Ronald Koeman and has four caps to his name, but since De Boer took charge of Oranje, the 27-year-old is yet to return to the squad.
The decision this time is even more baffling, considering that Weghorst has more league goals than anyone else in the squad. Luuk de Jong is in, despite being benched in recent weeks and only scoring four league goals. Ryan Babel is also there despite being a back-up for Galatasaray and only netting three league goals this season.
This form isn’t new for Weghorst, with the forward netting at least 15 goals a season since his second campaign with Heracles Almelo back in the 2015/16 campaign. He got 45 goals in 86 games for AZ, and so far has 59 in 111 for Wolfburg.
De Boer stressed when he took over that you had to be playing well and regularly to get called up, but that doesn’t seem to be applied at the moment, especially in the case of Weghorst. Next week, De Boer will have to explain his decision to the press, but it won’t change the fact that Weghorst is sitting at home despite being the most in-form Dutch attacker at the moment.
What more can Weghorst possibly do to get his Oranje chance?
Follow
Follow @Footballoranje_ on Twitter
You make an iron clad case for Weghorst, there is of course just a baffling a name on the list that one wonders, why?
(RB)
“What more can Weghorst possibly do to get his Oranje chance?” Good question. May be if he stop scoring de Boer will pick him like the other strikers!!! It seems that de Boer see that the striker’s job is not to score but to have a good personalty!!! Mr. de Boer, teams play to win we are not making compaign of public relations.
Surely a move to coaching on the sidelines has not changed Frank De Boer’s ability to assess a striker’s quality as he would have on field as a Dutch national team defender. I find it tough to believe the decision to overlook Weghorst is the result of a lacking awareness, but rather by calculated intention. Until the decision is reversed, I refuse to accept that there are not political forces at play that are influencing this decision. Weghorst has carried an otherwise mid tier team in the 3rd best soccer league (Bundesliga) in the world to a shot at a champions league birth next year, while sitting 4th in the league is scoring behind the likes of Lewandowski, Haaland and Silva respectively. To not include Weghorst in a squad that so clearly lacks the finishing of strikers as demonstrated by recent performances, suggests that the KNVB association is not interested in improving the team by putting the best foot forward. Without Wout Oranje will not win.
This must be something to do with keeping someone happy or harmony as a team. Clearly the exclusion (again) is very strange. I predict the answer FDB will give if asked will be “Due to Tactical reasons”. Reminds me too of Bas Dost case.
I am with you on this one. It has to be something along those lines. Either someone else doesn’t like him or he’s not easy to get along with.
If there is intent then I think an explanation is required.
Otherwise this stands as farce and disgrace
You are completely right: Without Wout Oranje will not win. But it must be something to do to stop this nonsens.
O look. Another goal scored by Wout. To form a winning team, one must sacrifice selfish individualism for the greater good of the overall squad. There should be no possibility that a good coach would let an individual player’s ego interfere with that. Surely all the players would want the best selection possible for the best chance to win. @Michael Bell, help us out here. Is KNVB politics to blame here? Is Weghorst a terrible human being? Did Weghorst humiliate Van Dijk on the pitch? Did Weghorst sleep with De Boer’s daughter? Did Weghorst make fun of Babel’s hair colour? Did Weghorst make fun of the fact Luuk DeJong runs with his feet pointed a 3 and 9 o’clock? Its not making sense.
Weghorst scored today against Werder Bremen. What can he do else to book his place in the team?!
Three years of scoring in top league just behind Lewandowski & Halaand. He was great at AZ too & he is more then just a That man he has mobility & scores some great goals hold up is so good drifts channels link up is great. Him & Depay would be ridiculous front 2 or let Your lead the line & others around him would do benefit from his work rate physical play & hold up. He covers so much ground too & is of course a massive in the air. He has been underrated by Oranje with Koeman though he finally called up now De Boer but is in top 3 strikers in Bundesliga, breaking records every season & is wanted by many ‘big’ clubs in PL & Other top 5. Leaving a huge asset out that could make such a soft & feel bad for Your can definitely see why players change Nationalities especially at older ages & this is window to use him get ready for Euros not to mention he is a great character too. Madness!
Holland a big striker fdb has one but is to blind to see rb is not answer