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Eurosport.com, UK
March 24 2005
Injured Meerdink pulls out of Dutch squad
Winger Martijn Meerdink has pulled out of the Netherlands squad for
World Cup qualifiers against Romania and Armenia after damaging knee
ligaments during training on Thursday. "It was very unexpected and it
looks rather serious," said the Netherland's coach Marco van Basten.
PSV: Keeping it tight!
The AZ Alkmaar player will be replaced by Feyenoord's Romeo Castelen
for Group One matches against Romania in Bucharest on Saturday and
Armenia in Eindhoven on Wednesday.
"It was very unexpected and it looks rather serious," Netherlands
coach Marco van Basten told a news conference.
"Martijn did very well in his first time with the squad and he fitted
into the group and trained well, but these things prove the toughness
of top sport."
Van Basten also explained why he left Bayern Munich striker Roy
Makaay out of the squad.
"It surprised me that Makaay played last weekend for Bayern but my
medical staff informed me that he was not ready for these two
matches" Van Basten said.
"Makaay is still in a recovery process and we don't want to disturb
that."
Experienced midfielder Philip Cocu will be fit to face Romania, who
are level with the Dutch at the top of the group on 10 points but
have played one game more.
"I spoke with Philip and he is likely to join Friday's training
session but even without a training Philip convinced me that he would
be ready to play," said Van Basten.
Van Basten is expecting Romania to adopt a cautious approach despite
their coach saying publicly that they would be going all out for
victory.
"We studied their 5-1 win over Germany last year and that showed they
have a lot of good players with technical skills," Van Basten said.
"They have proved their strength in the past during European and
World Championships, so we will face tough opponents."
Possible Netherlands team:
1-Edwin van der Sar; 2-Jan Kromkamp, 3-Khalid Boulahrouz, 4-Joris
Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 8-Denny Landzaat, 6-Mark van
Bommel, 10-Philip Cocu; 7-Dirk Kuijt, 9-Ruud van Nistelrooy, 11-Arjen
Robben.
Reuters - 24/03/05
March 24 2005
Injured Meerdink pulls out of Dutch squad
Winger Martijn Meerdink has pulled out of the Netherlands squad for
World Cup qualifiers against Romania and Armenia after damaging knee
ligaments during training on Thursday. "It was very unexpected and it
looks rather serious," said the Netherland's coach Marco van Basten.
PSV: Keeping it tight!
The AZ Alkmaar player will be replaced by Feyenoord's Romeo Castelen
for Group One matches against Romania in Bucharest on Saturday and
Armenia in Eindhoven on Wednesday.
"It was very unexpected and it looks rather serious," Netherlands
coach Marco van Basten told a news conference.
"Martijn did very well in his first time with the squad and he fitted
into the group and trained well, but these things prove the toughness
of top sport."
Van Basten also explained why he left Bayern Munich striker Roy
Makaay out of the squad.
"It surprised me that Makaay played last weekend for Bayern but my
medical staff informed me that he was not ready for these two
matches" Van Basten said.
"Makaay is still in a recovery process and we don't want to disturb
that."
Experienced midfielder Philip Cocu will be fit to face Romania, who
are level with the Dutch at the top of the group on 10 points but
have played one game more.
"I spoke with Philip and he is likely to join Friday's training
session but even without a training Philip convinced me that he would
be ready to play," said Van Basten.
Van Basten is expecting Romania to adopt a cautious approach despite
their coach saying publicly that they would be going all out for
victory.
"We studied their 5-1 win over Germany last year and that showed they
have a lot of good players with technical skills," Van Basten said.
"They have proved their strength in the past during European and
World Championships, so we will face tough opponents."
Possible Netherlands team:
1-Edwin van der Sar; 2-Jan Kromkamp, 3-Khalid Boulahrouz, 4-Joris
Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 8-Denny Landzaat, 6-Mark van
Bommel, 10-Philip Cocu; 7-Dirk Kuijt, 9-Ruud van Nistelrooy, 11-Arjen
Robben.
Reuters - 24/03/05