ZEIST (NETHERLANDS): Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal named midfielders Rafael van der Vaart and Ibrahim Afellay in his 20-men squad on Friday for World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Romania. Arjen Robben, however, is not part of it.
Van Gaal, who also recalled Nigel de Jong, said the changes were due to the selection of Jordy Clasie, Adam Maher and Luuk de Jong who have been included in the Dutch Under-23 squad.
The U-23 side will play a double header against Slovakia for a place at the European championship finals next year in Israel.
“Qualification for the U-23 finals is important for the development of our players and that’s why those three are not in my squad for the Andorra match,” Van Gaal told reporters.
“Clasie, for example, would have played for sure against Andorra as he would have some extra value, while Maher is more fit then Van der Vaart.”
Van Gaal dropped Van der Vaart, Afellay and De Jong for the first two qualifiers last month against Turkey and Hungary because they were involved in late transfers.
“I predicted then that Van der Vaart would regain his fitness in the Bundesliga and now he really is fit,” he said.
Van der Vaart replaces Wesley Sneijder, who is out for a week with a thigh injury, while Leroy Fer is also sidelined.
Joris Mathijsen and Arjen Robben are also omitted from the squad for the Andorra match but Van Gaal kept the door open for the second qualifier.
“Joris is likely to start this weekend with his club, but in case of Robben I don’t know if he will be in action,” he said.
“But I know Arjen and he is a true professional and if he is fit and capable to play he would let me know.”
Schweinsteiger is back
Bastian Schweinsteiger, left out of Germany’s World Cup qualifiers last month as he struggled to regain match fitness, was reinstated for the October matches as coach Joachim Loew named his squad on Friday.
Schweinsteiger took the place of the injured Julian Draxler in the only change from the squad which beat the Faroe Islands and Austria in September.
Germany, who top Group C with maximum points from their opening two games, are away to Ireland on October 12 and at home to Sweden four days later.