The Dutch national team starts Monday with Andries Noppert, Matthijs de Ligt and Steven Berghuis in the World Cup match in Qatar against Senegal. The 28-year-old Noppert makes his debut in the Orange squad at the Al Thumama Stadium.
The basic places for De Ligt and Noppert come as no surprise, after various media have already reported that they would be preferred by national coach Louis van Gaal. The fact that De Ligt is allowed to start is at the expense of Jurriën Timber, who is sitting on the bench.
Noppert has won the competition from Justin Bijlow and Remko Pasveer under the crossbar. A year ago, De Fries was reserve keeper of Go Ahead Eagles, after which his career gained momentum. He is the fiftieth Orange debutant under Van Gaal, who is in his third term as national coach.
The only question mark in the line-up of the Orange was the place on the right in midfield, next to Cody Gakpo and Frenkie de Jong. Van Gaal has therefore opted for Berghuis, so Koopmeiners is on the bench.
Only one player with World Cup experience
It is striking that the line-up of the Orange only has one player with World Cup experience and that is Daley Blind. Memphis Depay and Stefan de Vrij were also there at the 2014 World Cup, but they are on the bench.
It is almost certain that Memphis will come in, Van Gaal said earlier. The striker has not played in the past two months due to an injury and so he is not yet ready for a starting place.
The match between the Netherlands and Senegal starts on Monday at 5 p.m. and is led by Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio. The other match in the first round in group A was the opening game between Qatar and Ecuador on Sunday and was won 0-2 by the South Americans.
