Three weeks before the first World Cup match against Portugal, national coach Andries Jonker is not yet sure whether to let the footballers play in 4-3-3 or 5-3-2. The 60-year-old says the Dutch side tried both formations last week, in training matches against youth teams. The next moment of measurement is the international match against the women of Belgium on Sunday.
But Jonker cannot yet play in his ideal composition against the Belgians for the first game of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Some players only joined the selection on Monday. It remains to be seen if they can play and if so, how much. “It’s still very early in the preparations and normally you pay attention to that,” says Jonker.
Champions League finalist Lynn Wilms will not be there at Kerkrade on Sunday from 8.45pm. The Vfl Wolfsburg defender is out of form. “She is still in suitable training, the medical staff are still watching how it is going,” said the national coach.
Additionally, Jonker is yet to comment on his line-up. “I try to be open about a lot of things, but there’s no thinking about how we’re going to play football. I have the team skeleton in my head, but it’s always the cases that players can surprise.I like to keep the coming weeks still have the freedom to decide to do things differently.
Orange will play for the first time in the World Cup on July 23. Next, Portugal are the opponent in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. On July 16, the footballers will play a practice match against South Korea behind closed doors in Sydney. Jonker wants to use it to “give players as much game time as possible”.
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