Netherlands keeper left out of Euro 2020 after COVID-19 case

0

<p>AMSTERDAM &mdash; Goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen was left off the Netherlands squad for the European Championship on Tuesday because of fitness doubts following his COVID-19 infection.</p>
<p>The Dutch soccer federation said Cillessen will be replaced by Marco Bizot in the 26-man final squad.</p>
<p>Netherlands coach Frank de Boer said Cillessen missed key preparation time and he could not be sure when the player would be 100% healthy.</p>
<p>The Valencia ’keeper did not travel to a training camp in Portugal after his positive test was reported last week.</p>
<p>Cillessen had been a back-up to Tim Krul in recent games.</p>
<p>They both played in a memorable 2014 World Cup quarterfinal match, when Cillessen was taken off late in extra time of a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica so that penalty specialist Krul could take part in the shootout. Krul saved two kicks and the Dutch advanced to the semifinals.</p>
<p>The Netherlands will play all three games in Group C at home in Amsterdam, first against Ukraine on June 13 then against Austria and North Macedonia.</p>
<p>The Dutch team’s first warm-up game is on Wednesday against Scotland, which reported its first COVID-19 positive on Tuesday at a training camp in Spain.</p>
<p>The Scottish federation said midfielder John Fleck is self-isolating and will not travel to Portugal for the game.</p>
<p>“The rest of the squad was retested for COVID-19 and returned negative results,” the Scottish Football Association said.</p>
<p>UEFA allowed the 24 national teams at Euro 2020 to have three extra players in a 26-man squad to help cover for COVID-19 cases and mandatory isolation or quarantine.</p>
<hr />
<p>More AP soccer: <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/soccer">https://apnews.com/hub/soccer</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Sports">https://twitter.com/AP_Sports</a></p>

No posts to display