Jasper Cillessen started on Sunday with part of the Orange squad in preparation for Tuesday evening’s home game with Wales in the Nations League. The goalkeeper appears to have recovered from a bruise he sustained during a training session earlier this week.
Cillessen was injured when he hit a goal post hard. He would actually defend the goal of the Dutch national team on Saturday during the home game against Poland (2-2).
National coach Louis van Gaal replaced him with Mark Fleks, who was not blameless with Poland’s opening goal. The SC Freiburg goalkeeper had no answer to a diagonal shot from Matty Cash.
Van Gaal is disappointed that Cillessen is often injured. The goalkeeper missed many matches from Valencia last season due to a calf and groin injury. “He is injured a lot and you have to be able to count on players,” said the national coach.
The Orange squad trained with the reserves of the game against Poland on Sunday. Van Gaal was on the field, but largely left the training to his assistant Edgar Davids and goalkeeper coach Frans Hoek.
After victories over Belgium (1-4) and Wales (1-2) and the draw against Poland, the Netherlands will close the international match against Wales again on Tuesday. The match in De Kuip starts at 8.45 pm.