Holland's Eljero Elia ruled out of Euro 2012 qualifiers
Holland have been dealt a blow with the news that attacker Eljero Elia has been ruled out of UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying matches against Moldova and Sweden.
The Hamburg winger was forced to leave the training camp after failing to recover from a heel problem. The 23-year-old picked up the injury in a 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga with Sankt Pauli on September 19. While he continued to play for another three matches,
the problem has proved to be sufficient enough that he will have to miss out on the upcoming internationals.
Elia told Dutch newspaper Dr Telegraaf that: “(National team coach) Bert van Marwijk really wanted me to stay with the team, but I've decided to withdraw from the team after discussing my situation with the physio. I will undergo further examination in Germany
and will keep in touch with the coach. Maybe I can play against Sweden after all, but it doesn't look good."
The news means that, with star winger Arjen Robben also out of action, PSV Eindhoven player Ibrahim Afellay could be deployed in the starting line-up on Friday’s match against Moldova.
Meanwhile, Van Marwijk has explained the reasoning behind his decision to drop Manchester City’s defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong for a horror tackle which left Newcastle United winger Hatem Ben Arfa with a double leg break.
He told reporters on Thursday that: “Nigel has simply gone too far this time. It really is a shame that this has happened. There are no winners in this situation. Hatem Ben Arfa has sustained a serious injury, Nigel is getting a lot of criticism and I will
have to make do without one of my key players in two important games. I didn't need long to think about what I should do about this. I felt right away that Nigel's tackle was unacceptable. Nigel has already been involved in a number of incidents before and
I've discussed those incidents with him. This was simply too much though.”
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