Robben out of Netherlands team for Euro qualifiers

By foxsports
Published

Injured winger Arjen Robben was left out of the 23-man Netherlands squad on Friday to play San Marino and Finland in European Championship qualifiers.

The injury-prone Bayern Munich forward has been sidelined by a groin problem. Coach Bert van Marwijk called up PSV Eindhoven winger Jeremain Lens as a replacement.

The call-up came a day after Lens scored a spectacular goal in PSV's 5-0 defeat of Austrian team Ried in a Europa League qualifier, curling in a shot with the outside of his right foot from close to the corner flag.

The World Cup runner-up Netherlands has won all six of its Euro 2012 qualifiers so far. It takes on San Marino next Friday in Eindhoven before traveling to Helsinki to play Finland on Sept. 6.

Van Marwijk also included 20-year-old PSV forward Georginio Wijnaldum in his squad for the first time.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar will vie for striking duties with Arsenal captain Robin van Persie.

Huntelaar is joint top scorer with Miroslav Klose of Germany in European Championship qualifiers with eight goals and showed he is still in good form by netting four times for Schalke in its 6-1 defeat of HJK Helsinki on Thursday.

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Netherlands:

Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Roma), Tim Krul (Newcastle), Michel Vorm (Swansea City).

Defenders: Khalid Boulahrouz (Stuttgart), John Heitinga (Everton), Joris Mathijsen (Malaga), Erik Pieters (PSV), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax), Jeffrey Bruma (Hamburg).

Midfielders: Mark van Bommel (AC Milan), Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia), Kevin Strootman (PSV), Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham), Edson Braafheid (Hoffenheim).

Forwards: Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Eljero Elia (Hamburg), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Schalke), Luuk de Jong (Twente), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Jeremain Lens (PSV), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV).