England vs Netherlands: Next generation know it is time to replace Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie
Jordy Clasie tells the Independent that the younger generation are aware they must step up
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The problem with Golden Generations is what happens next. England struggled to replace theirs, and Holland are finding it harder to move on from a set of players who have not even retired yet.
Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie have carried this team for years but they are all nearing the end of their careers and none will be involved at Wembley tonight. The next generation, born in the late 1980s, has been a busted flush, which is why Holland did not qualify for the 24-team Euro 2016.
For Danny Blind’s side to make it to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the next generation, those born in the 1990s, have to start producing at the top level. They know this, as Jordy Clasie, Southampton’s diminutive midfielder, told the Independent in the run-up to tonight’s game at Wembley.
“Sneijder and Robben, they are so important for us now in the national team, they have had great careers,” Clasie says. “Of course in a few more years they will stop. Then the other boys have to take it over. The young boys in the squad there, they can grow a bit now in what they show in the national team.”
Clasie in 24 years old but, as he says, it is the players a few years younger than him who are the new future. The best of them is 19-year-old Riechedly Bazoer, the powerful Ajax midfielder who connects defence with attack and is already on the radar of Manchester City and Chelsea.
“Bazoer will be an unbelievable player in a few years, he will be at the top” Clasie says. “He’s got everything that a good midfielder for a top club needs: he’s strong, fast, physically good, he reads the game. If you see him for Ajax, sometimes he runs the whole game. He scores a lot of good goals, he’s confident, he’s consistent, he shows quality nearly every week.”
Bazoer showed his maturity on Thursday night when he came on for Sneijder in the first half and will likely flourish, alongside Clasie in midfield, at Wembley this evening.
The next best of this new generation is Davy Klaasen, a dynamic and dangerous number 10 who plays alongside Bazoer for Ajax. He started against France on Thursday night, but picked up a knee injury which will keep him out of tonight’s game. Jetro Willems, the hugely-promising 21-year-old left-back, is likely to play, having been so important to Philipp Cocu’s team which won last season’s Eredivisie. Vincent Janssen, a prolific 21-year-old striker for AZ Alkmaar, may also feature.
“We had great players, Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie, but the players aged 25 to 28 aren’t there, or not a lot of them,” coach Danny Blind explained last night. “We have to deal with that. The only thing that we can do is play games tomorrow, so that our young players develop.”
The old guard, clearly, are winding down. The next generation know that it is their turn.
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