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Journalism of Courage
In the 33rd minute of the cross-over tie against Canada on Tuesday, Netherlands defender Sander de Wijn was taken off the field. The tears on his face reflected severe pain. The replays showed that he stretched a little too much while trying to duel the ball away from the Canadian players. A day later, he officially withdrew from the tournament.
Even though an injury to a key player a day before a high-pressure match against the hosts India looks worrisome, the Dutch coach Max Caldas said that there was no need to panic. Speaking to indianexpress.com after the training session at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Caldas said, “The injury is just a part and parcel of the high-performance game. This is nothing new for us. We move along,” he said.
De Wijn has been a part of the national team since 2012. The 28-year-old has 128 caps to his name and was also a key player of Netherlands’ 2017 European Championships Gold medal winning team in Amsterdam.
On being questioned whether this would affect the morale of the team, Caldas asked back, “Why?” After a pause of three seconds, he replied: “We don’t train with 18 players. We train with a bigger squad, and a big squad keeps training till the end.”
Joep de Mol has been announced as the replacement for the injured de Wijn. Caldas said de Mol will have no problems in fitting into the team structure with just one day for the quarterfinal clash to go. “He knows what he is doing, he is been in the squad for long time. He has been here in Bhubaneswar since the beginning. So, there are no problems,” he said. “There will be no changes in strategies going into the match,” he added.
India and Netherlands will face each other on Thursday in the knockout game.
