Arjen Robben is set to join his teammates at the World Cup in South Africa, with his left hamstring not in as bad shape as initially thought. Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk revealed that he is confident that the Bayern winger will be fit for the start of the tournament, after picking up the injury against Hungary in the 6-1 victory the other day. According to Dutch state broadcaster NOS, Van Marwijk says he has “decided not to summon any substitute for Arjen. I want to give him every chance to still participate in the World Cup.”

Holland kickoff their World Cup campaign against Denmark on June 14th 2010, with Robben expected to feature as one of the two wingers in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The two times World Cup finalists have never played Denmark, Cameroon or Japan before in the World Cup before – all opponents in Group E. The Dutch squad arrived in South Africa Sunday evening and Robben is expected to join up with the squad later this week in preparation for the game against Denmark the following week.

Coach Bert van Marwijk spoke earlier today: “I decided not to call up a replacement to give him the chance to recover and get back in the squad during the tournament”. Robben is vital to the Dutch cause, having been part of the qualifying side that went unbeaten throughout. Robben played in the 2006 World Cup finals, scoring a single goal in three matches. The 26 year old winger has had a wonderful season with Bayern Munich scoring two vitals goals away at Fiorentina and Manchester United to put Bayern through. Bayern eventually lost 2-0 to Internazionale in the final.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 6th, 2010 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Europe, Injury News, South Africa 2010, World Cup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.