UEFA Euro 2012 Poland & Ukraine - Finals
Mathijsen still uncertain - could miss entire tournament

7 June 2012

It is still uncertain whetherdefender Joris Mathijsen will be able to play at all during the upcoming European Championships. What is certain is that he is out for Holland's opening game against Denmark on Saturday, but manager Bert van Marwijk is still hoping that he will be fit for Oranje's second game against Germany on Wednesday. Yet there is also a chance that Mathijsen will be out for the entire tournament. Van Marwijk said he will talk to the medical staff on Friday, en depending on their information he could decide to call up a replacement for Mathijsen. Ron Vlaar will replace him in Saturday's game against Denmark.

Mathijsen did train today, but did so separatefrom the rest of the squad. "His recovery is going less well than we expected," Van Marwijk has said. "We had hoped he would be able to train with the group today, but it didn't work out. He needs more time."

Van Marwijk can replace a player up until 24 hours before the opening game. The main question for the manager is who he can call up, as most players have gone on holiday and stopped training a few weeks ago. "In that case it will be either a player who has not continued training or a player of the U-21 squad."

Mathijsen's replacement Ron Vlaar played the second half against Slovakia and the entire match against Northern-Ireland, and did well. In the second game the Feyenoord captain even scored his first ever international goal.

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Holland at European Championships

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