Vicent Janssen, striker of dutch team, is emerging as Memphis Depay’s replacement in the premiere of his selection, that due to an injury he will not be able to count on the Barcelona player for the match he will play against Senegal will make its debut next Sunday in Qatar World Cup 2022.
Janssen, one of the surprises in Louis Van Gaal’s call-up with Xavi Simmons, could replace Depay, who continues to recover from a hamstring injury that has prevented him from playing for Barcelona for the past two months. The Dutch coach has chosen to mention Memphis and in the last few hours he has acknowledged that he won’t make it to the match against Senegal and that Janssen will be his replacement.
This Saturday, in a press conference, the Antwerp player said he was satisfied with the possibility of being able to play the first match of the World Cup for his team: “I didn’t see Van Gaal’s press conference because I was training or eating in Antwerp, I don’t remember. Then I found out because they told me. It’s nice when the coach says something like that. We’ll see.”
Janssen returned to the national team under Louis Van Gaal after a period of absence. In 2017 he participated in the duel against Sweden, Arjen Robben’s last as an international, and went to Tottenham without success. Later he bet on the Mexican Monterrey and for five years he did not go to the national team.
Five months ago, in June, he played his first minutes for the Netherlands in the League of Nations after a long time in a clash against Wales. Later he repeated against Poland and Belgium and finally made the list for the World Cup in Qatar.
If he’s in the starting lineup, he’ll have to contend with a powerful central defender like Kalidou Koulibaly: “Lately I’ve often faced good defenders. It’s part of football, especially in a World Cup, where there are the best in the world.”
He also talked about the contrast between the selection he left in 2017 with the current one. In his previous round with the Netherlands, he suffered a bad spell after failing to qualify for the 2016 Euro Cup and 2018 World Cup. Now the situation is different.
“The contrast is great. In those moments there was a lot of negativity in the team. Now there is a lot of positivity. We know what we want to achieve together. The fact that there is pressure is not important for us.”he underlined.
