Mark van Bommel comes to Nigel de Jong's defence
Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel has defended Nigel de Jong, who was abruptly dropped from Bert van Marwijk's national team squad after breaking the leg of an opponent over the weekend.
De Jong, who joined Manchester City from Hamburger SV in January 2009, landed a reckless challenge on Newcastle United's Hatem Ben Arfa, breaking the striker's leg on Sunday. The tackle was the latest in a row of incidents that have tainted the midfielder's
reputation on the field.
In March, he broke the leg of Stuart Holden in a friendly encounter between the Netherlands and USA, and many still remember his high, but unintentional kick on Spain's Xabi Alonso at the recent World Cup final.
Van Bommel, who partnered de Jong in the Dutch midfield in the team's second-place finish at the World Cup, has come to the defence of his international teammate.
"Nigel is still one of us and that won't change because of what has happened. We're all feeling sad about this, but we also understand the coach's decision," the Bayern Munich midfielder told reporters ahead of the Dutch team's Euro 2012 qualifier against
Moldova on Friday.
"It's very unfortunate that Nigel has broken an opponent's leg twice within only six months, but I know that he's a nice guy. He never has the intention to hurt his opponent. He just wants to win as many duels as possible."
Van Bommel similarly criticised
As a ball-winner for both club and country, van Bommel has also been criticized for his overly physical style of play in midfield.
But the 33-year-old, who has 115 international caps to his name, said that neither he nor de Jong should change their approach to the game.
"I know exactly what Nigel's going through at the moment. Something similar happened to me a while ago. I thought about my style of play a lot back then. Nigel shouldn't change his style of play though. We need him the way he is."
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