Dutch Debate: Does Ibrahim Afellay Risk Losing His Spot In Holland’s World Cup Squad?

The Netherlands take on Australia on Saturday in an international friendly, but national coach Bert van Marwijk will be without a number of regulars due to various reasons. Robin van Persie and Andre Ooijer both opted not to travel to Australia to stay with their respective wives, who are expected to give birth later this week. Furthermore, Gregory van der Wiel, Nigel de Jong and Ibrahim Afellay all withdrew from the Oranje squad due to injury. Bayern Munich stars Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben are also unavailable.

The aforementioned players are all widely expected to make it into the Oranje squad for the 2010 World Cup. Van Bommel, Robben, Van der Wiel, Ooijer, De Jong and Van Persie have all been regulars in Van Marwijk’s starting XI in the past couple of international matches, while Ibrahim Afellay is considered a back-up for all five midfield positions in Holland’s 4-2-3-1 formation.

However, the latter has played in only one of the Oranje’s last five internationals, despite Van Marwijk’s faith in the creative midfielder’s abilities. The last time Afellay wore the bright orange jersey of The Netherlands was in the 2-2 friendly match against England on 12 August, when he replaced Arjen Robben after 55 minutes of play.

The PSV star withdrew from the Holland squad for the friendly match against Japan and the World Cup qualifiers against Scotland, Norway and Iceland due to a string of injuries. Afellay is no stranger to groin, calf, hamstring, ankle and Achilles injuries and is as much a regular on the treatment table as he is in the Netherlands squad.

Nevertheless, despite all his withdrawals from Van Marwijk’s squad and his ongoing injury woes, Afellay has missed ‘only’ seven of PSV’s last 43 Eredivisie games. The 23-year-old appears to be missing relatively more matches with the Oranje than he misses with his club and many pundits were not surprised when Afellay sustained yet another minor injury in PSV’s final match before the upcoming international friendly, prompting him to withdraw from the Holland squad.

Even though you can hardly blame one for sustaining an injury - assuming no-one gets injured intentionally - Afellay’s withdrawal for the trip to Australia has led to criticism in Holland. People are starting to get doubts about the highly rated midfielder’s willingness to represent The Netherlands at international level and some voices are even of the opinion that Afellay should be excluded from the Oranje’s squad for the 2010 World Cup.  

The idea of dropping Afellay from the Holland roster has something to be said for it. The attacker has not been able to make an impact at the Oranje so far due to the stiff competition for a spot in the starting XI and the Dutch have two class players available for every position Afellay has set his sights on, even though they do not all have the same qualities the PSV man has. His injury-proneness could prove to be a problem for national coach Van Marwijk, as he cannot afford to include any players in his squad who are not fully match fit.

On the other hand, Van Marwijk did not select Afellay all these times just because he’s such a nice guy, but rather because of the specific qualities the midfielder has. The gifted midfielder can play in both an attacking role and in the holding midfielder role, has great vision on and off the ball, has an excellent technique and is one of the best dribblers around in Holland. Additionally, his unpredictability could be a real weapon for the Oranje if they need to open up a game.

Therefore, it appears to be very much unlikely that Afellay will miss out on the tournament in South Africa. The highly rated midfielder is not indispensable to the Dutch team, but he has certainly developed into an integral part of the Oranje in the past couple of years. Dropping him from the World Cup squad due to his injury-proneness is quite simply too harsh at the moment, but there is no doubt about it that Afellay does not have too much credit left with the Dutch fans.

What is your opinion on Afellay’s situation at the Oranje? Does the PSV star deserve to be included in Holland’s World Cup squad or should he be axed?  Goal.com wants to know what you think...

Stefan Coerts, Goal.com