World Cup election day: Oranges hit the front most

Today is D-Day for the 39 pre-selected players for the Netherlands national team. At least thirteen men get a negative message from Zeist, they don’t go to Qatar with oranges. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that French national coach Didier Deschamps had 25 names instead of 26.

Anyway, ax day. We deal with dilemmas per line. It is a puzzle where the choice of one means fewer options for the other. The hardest hits seem to fall forward.

The big question for goalkeepers is not just who Louis van Gaal will take with him, but also how many goalkeepers he will choose. “If we have a chance to choose more players, we should take a goalkeeper with us,” the national coach said beforehand.

If you look at the previous selections of other countries, almost every national coach chooses three goalkeepers. Only Switzerland opt for the four, but that is due to the injury of goalkeeper and penalty shooter Yann Sommer. The Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper may be in form shortly before the World Cup.

Jasper Cillessen can sleep soundly. After two convincing performances by Remko Pasveer in which he kept a clean slate in recent internationals, the Ajax goalkeeper was a candidate for base. “I think Pasveer will come, yes,” Van Gaal said earlier.

But a lot has changed for Pasveer in a month after a series of minor tricks and bugs. Mark Fleks and Justin Bijlow have shown good form lately. In addition, the penalty test may result in a delay in favor of Andries Noppert, for example.

Sven Botman, Pascal Struijk and Micky van de Ven could serve as a left link in the back trio as an alternative to Nathan Aké. Bruno Martins Indi has retired. But Van Gaal hasn’t worked with any of the three before, and that speaks against them.

The national coach looks not only at the characteristics of football, but also at behavior. How do players move in a group? “Everyone has been talking about you for a long time at a World Cup. I’m looking for players who can carry that together.” Botman doesn’t know this about Struijk and Van de Ven.

Van Gaal can learn more about Van de Ven and Botman from Jong Oranje coach Erwin van de Looi, despite Botman’s recent withdrawal from Young Orange’s national teams. Leeds defender Struijk would be an unsafe choice in this respect and therefore very unlikely.

Botman is a true defender who is impressive at Newcastle United. Van de Ven’s surprise was the pre-selection. The former FC Volendam player is more of a football defender and has less experience than Botman but is doing well at VfL Wolfsburg this season.

In Tyrell Malacia’s last game against Belgium (1-0), he was allowed to play in an unusual position as a left-back at halftime. Daley Blind remained at fullback. Malacia took some getting used to and the national coach was not completely satisfied. If Malacia had done this entirely to Van Gaal’s liking, Botman, Struijk or Van de Ven might not have been necessary as alternatives to Aké.

Both the Blind and Malacia have lost their regular place at the club in recent weeks. This could open the door for Mitchel Bakker, a base player at Leverkusen.

Denzel Dumfries is safe on the right and Devyne Rensch and Jeremie Frimpong are possible backups. According to Van Gaal, Rensch is “a great talent” and can also play as a left-back with his bipedal structure. But his game in Ajax is by no means believable.

His lightning-quick Frimpong shows he has exceptional offensive stats in Leverkusen. He showed this in Jong Oranje. Born in Amsterdam, he doesn’t speak Dutch but understands football slang and game talk.

The engine is driven by Frenkie de Jong and Steven Berghuis, Teun Koopmeiners, Davy Klaassen and Marten de Roon are doing well.

Kenneth Taylor made his debut against Poland in his last international match. The national coach admitted that he still has to work on his “defensive orientation”. Taylor is suspicious. The sluggishness in Ajax also bothered him.

The call for Xavi Simons to be selected for the World Cup has increased in recent months. With his openness and fearlessness, the PSV player won the sympathy of Dutch football. Whether Van Gaal is convinced, too, remains to be seen. As a rule, the national coach does not follow the public.

Van Gaal would have left a void. “If a great talent suddenly emerges, I choose it,” the national coach said. Also, the position of the number 10 is not fixed. Depending on the opponent, there is the more offensive variant with Berghuis, Klaassen and Cody Gakpo.

From an offensive point of view, it can become a battleground. The planned offensive pair Steven Bergwijn/Memphis Depay and Cody Gakpo could count on a World Cup ticket or the number 10 as an alternative. While Depay has not played for FC Barcelona since the last internationals, little remains of Bergwijn’s form.

“No players are sure, only the core players of the qualifying cycle and the Nations League have a plus,” said Van Gaal. “You have witnessed full development. Danjuma for example didn’t see much of it, so there’s a minus. But if he’s in top shape, of course I’ll take him with me.”

His form isn’t great yet, but Danjuma, who has scored four goals in 12 games for Villarreal, has hope. Donyell Malen has to fear he doesn’t “deliver” enough at Dortmund.

What about Wout Weghorst? Will the long forward fall by the wayside as Luuk de Jong’s pincer striker? De Jong played in orange for less than a minute in Van Gaal’s third term as national team coach. There’s also the question of whether Brian Brobbey’s five goals last season were enough to topple Vincent Janssen.