Van Marwijk angered by reckless tackle Meanwhile Capello says Manchester City can help end England's long wait for a title Nigel De Jong, the Manchester City midfielder, has been dropped from the Holland squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers as punishment for his tackle which broke Hatem Ben Arfa's leg on Sunday. De Jong went in hard on Newcastle United's French winger during the Premier League clash at Eastlands, with tests later in the day revealing Ben Arfa had suffered a broken tibia and fibula to his left leg.
Bert van Marwijk, the Holland coach, had already expressed his concern at the tackle earlier yesterday, and his later statement revealed the extent of his dismay. The statement read: "I just informed the squad and told them I saw no other possibility. In the near future I will discuss this matter with Nigel but right now we have to focus on the upcoming two matches." Van Marwijk described De Jong's challenge as "wild and unnecessary" in an interview yesterday - even though match referee Martin Atkinson did not even award a foul at the time in a match City went on to win 2-1.
"I've seen the pictures back," Van Marwijk said in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. "It was a wild and unnecessary offence. He went in much too hard. It is unfortunate, especially since he does not need to do it. "The funny thing is that the referee did not even show a yellow card for it. Apparently, there are other standards. "But I have a problem with the way Nigel needlessly looks to push the limit. I am going to speak to him."
It is not the first time the 25-year-old combative midfielder has come under the microscope for his aggressive style of play, having caused Bolton Wanderers' United States midfielder Stuart Holden to fracture a right fibula on international duty in March and then got away with a chest-high challenge on Spain's Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final in South Africa. De Jong was last week named in Van Marwijk's Dutch squad for the upcoming qualifiers against Moldova and Sweden.
Meanwhile, Fabio Capello, the England manager, believes City's English players could be central to ending the country's trophy drought, having seen a Spain squad packed with Barcelona players win their first World Cup. Six City players finished the match against Switzerland last month as England recorded a second straight win in Euro 2012 qualifying. And City went second in the Premier League with victory over Newcastle with four Englishman starting - goalkeeper Joe Hart, defender Joleon Lescott, and midfielders James Milner and Gareth Barry - while winger Adam Johnson came off the bench and netted the winner.
Meanwhile, Milner is suspended for England's Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro next week, but the other four players as well as Shaun Wright-Phillips were named in Capello's squad yesterday. "It's important because they train every day together, they play together regularly in the matches," Capello said. "They know the better the movement with the ball, without the ball, everything. It's easier to find each other when you play together for the national team.
"I know also that the national teams that won the titles, the World Cup, the Euros, they had something like this. "Spain for example had players from three teams, seven from Barcelona [not including David Villa who joined just before the tournament], three from Real Madrid and one from Villarreal. "Also I remember Italy when they won the World Cup [in 2006] they had a lot of players from Juventus, because it is really important to have this group, the spirit and mentality of this group, you hope you can find this in your team."
* Agencies