Virus fells five Oranje players ahead of European qualifier against France
Five Dutch internationals have been sent home with a virus infection the day before the Netherlands is due to meet France for their European championships qualification match.
Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Sven Botman, Joey Veerman and Bart Verbruggen have all been declared sick. They do not have coronavirus but it is unclear what infection they are suffering from.
Coach Ronald Koeman has immediately called up three replacements to bring the squad back to full strength: Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich), Kjell Scherpen (Vitesse) and Stefan de Vrij (Internazionale).
Koeman is already without Frenkie de Jong and Steven Bergwijn because of injury.
The match, taking place at the Stade de France stadium north of Paris, kicks off at 8.45pm on Friday.
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