Where Was Robben Yesterday? Oh, That's Right–Still Broken From The Last Time Bertie Called Him.
This is seriously getting ridiculous. In an international friendly–which by definition means extremely little to experienced players–the Netherlands managed to return two important players to their Bundesliga sides injured.
Again.
Granted, Mark van Bommel of Bayern Munich didn’t feature for the Dutch, having pulled out of the friendly before a ball was kicked. The reason though–an aggravation of his prior R knee injury–happened while in training for his father-in-law. And that right knee was injured, when again?
Oh, that’s right, he injured it during his last training session with the Oranje and van Marwijk still had him play 70 minutes on that knee back in October.
How is van Bommel able to train with Bayern prior to the 1.FC Nuremberg match, get into to some pushing and shoving with teammate Anatoliy Tymoschuk, and report no knee problems? Either he chose to be cautious and withdraw knowing his club team hates the Dutch or Bert makes the squad practice on concrete.
Now, the other player returning to Germany slightly broken by the Dutch doesn’t have “van” in his name–fans of Spurs and Arsenal should be pleased with that–but he is nevertheless a valuable lad to his side.
Joris Mathijsen of Hamburg SV landed awkwardly following a challenge in the air during the match with Turkey and did his ankle. Mathijsen was stretchered off the pitch and it’s now being reported he returned to Hamburg wearing a cast.
Ooof.
While not flashy, Mathijsen is a solid contributor to the Hamburglars and will be sorely missed in the upcoming matchday against Hannover 96. After the 96ers, Hamburg have a competitive fixture list that includes top of the table matches with SC Freiburg and Bayer Leverkusen.
So not only will the Rothosen be absent his services for the defensive slog that will be the Hannover match but also likely without one of their key defenders for important contests that might prove decisive in the race for European spots.
Armin Veh is now trying to find a way for Eljero Elia to renounce his Dutch nationality seeing as how he just returned to training for Hamburg.
Certainly, injuries are a part of the game and it might seem poor to single out van Marwijk and the KNVB in this instance, but it just seems odd to call players like van Bommel–who hadn’t played for Bayern prior to training with the Dutch–and Mathijsen to participate in an international match that isn’t a qualifier for a Euro tournament or the World Cup. These types of matches scream for giving younger players a chance to wear the colors of their nation and let it rip.
In fact, if they did indeed ”let it rip,” there might be more exciting and goal-crazy matches that would be far more entertaining than the 0-0 Germany/Sweden affair on display yesterday. Players like van Bommel and Mathijsen were key players of the Dutch side that were finalists to Spain this summer–they know how to play international football at the highest level–give some other guys a chance Bertie!
And if the KNVB continues to call injured players who hadn’t featured for their club sides prior to training with the Dutch–van Persie and van Bommel come to mind–then Bertie’s going to have to invent another justification as to why he’s not calling up a healthy Nigel DeJong to participate.
Oh, and Bertie, do Spurs and Arse fans a favor and don’t call van der Vaart or van Persie–ever again. Your concrete training fields scare the bejeebus out of us.
Can I just give this whole article a +1? Van Marwijk is a jackass. This needs to stop. Let these players rest for meaningless internationals. It’s not worth the potential cost.
Seriously. Maybe ‘Arry should consider refusing to release VdV for meaningless friendlies.
When you said they struck again I thought they had injured another opponent!
@ AOD: Nah, apparently the Dutch believe in only hurting themselves/self-loathing methinks
@Anonsters: I think it would be hilarious if they refuse to release VdV and then the Dutch revoke his citizenship. Maybe something’s wrong with me but I would take endless pleasure in that.
I am so on your bandwagon.
@ Wag: Yes, this was my Bundesliga f/u to that. The KNVB has presented Spurs and Arsenal fans the unique opportunity to agree on something: Dutch call-ups suck.
@OM – yeah, things they can agree on are your point and that whoever the ref for the NLD on Sat. is going to s*ck. (-;
I generally agree with what you’re saying here, but I’m a bit puzzled by this: “In fact, if they did indeed ”let it rip,” there might be more exciting and goal-crazy matches that would be far more entertaining than the 0-0 Germany/Sweden affair on display yesterday.” You’re arguing that putting out younger squads to gain experience would lead to more exciting matches, but Germany’s actually the team that did precisely that, with an astonishingly young squad, and there was still a drab draw. It probably would have been with the seniors as well, but I’m not quite following your cause-and-effect logic!
@ cheeky: The logic behind that was that in several of the international friendlies where experienced internationals are called up, typically the clubs give the federations verbal restrictions, like “Don’t play him any longer than x minutes.” There is a caution built into having to play some of those established internationals–and those players might also be playing with a more cautious mindset as they are established in the international side, they might not often have to prove themselves in a meaningless friendly to remain in the side. Whereas some younger players, perhaps seeking to leave it all out on the pitch, would not be fettered with some of those restrictions. It’s an odd logic and you’re right–sometimes when you put a bunch of kids on the pitch it doesn’t always lead to goal fests–but that’s where the “let it rip” came from.
Well, I understand all of that logic, but using the Germany match as an example is strange to me because they actually followed your advice and ended up with the opposite result. It’s not Germany’s fault – the kids actually tried really hard, particularly Holtby and Schmelzer, and even Schürrle and Götze in the 20 minutes they were given – and Sweden just parked the bus. I think your argument is sound, as I too enjoy seeing experimental young squads in friendlies, but I think using Germany as a counter-example was odd as their result was drab for entirely different reasons. That’s all I mean. Sorry for being nitpicky. :)
@ cheeky: Gotcha. And you’re right–Germany/Sweden was likely a bad example b/c the young guys did play. I should have just gone with whichever former Soviet Bloc nation might have been in action that day! I do wish someone like Sidney Sam would have been in the squad–at least for 20 or so minutes too. Or if Sami Allagui didn’t go Tunisian.