Robert Maaskant has openly questioned why the Netherlands held a minute's silence on Thursday evening for Bartina Koeman, who died last week. "Strange," Maaskant told Sportnieuws.
A week and a half ago, Bartina Koeman, the wife of former national team coach Ronald Koeman, died from the effects of metastatic breast cancer.
Before the Nations League match against Germany (1-1), the Netherlands then observed a minute's silence for Bartina Koeman. Maaskant found that slightly strange.
"It was very nice and respectful," Maaskant began in conversation with Sportnieuws. "I think I'm the only one, and I'll probably get a lot of criticism, but I found that minute's silence rather strange," continued the former manager of, among others, NAC and VVV-Venlo.
What struck Maaskant most was that Cody Gakpo's unborn child did not receive a minute's silence during the World Cup. "Then I reason back to that for a moment. What do you do with that, then?"
"I have every respect for the Koeman family, but of course there are more families who lose people. I think it's wonderful that it happened, but I am curious about what the thinking behind it was," he concluded.