ARLINTON, Texas — Netherlands have been handed a major boost after Ronald Koeman said Memphis Depay and Bart Verbruggen are both fit to start Sunday’s Group F opener against Japan.
Depay has made just three appearances since March 22, when suffering an injury to his right thigh during a 1-1 draw for Corinthians against Flamengo.
The 32-year-old — who is his country’s all-time top scorer with 55 goals — sat out Monday’s 2-1 friendly win over Uzbekistan but Koeman was upbeat about Depay’s availability when speaking in Dallas on Saturday.
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“The last couple of days, we have told the players how we will be starting tomorrow, what our lineup will be,” Koeman said.
“I prefer not to share this with you at this stage but Memphis is fit. He would be able to start the game. The past ten days, from the start of our tournament preparation, his fitness has increased. So he has progressed well. Things are looking good. He is an important player. He has been so for a very long time and he is a key part to our possible success in this World Cup. He is important for that.”
There were doubts over Verbruggen after he was forced to miss training on Wednesday after picking up a hip injury which forced his second-half substitution against Uzbekistan.
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But Koeman said: “Verbruggen is able to play. Yesterday and today he trained with the goal.”
The Netherlands have never won the World Cup — losing three times in the final, most recently in 2010 — and reached the semifinals of Euro 2024, only to lose to England 2-1 with a 90th-minute goal from Ollie Watkins.
“There’s always pressure,” Koeman said. “The Netherlands, it may not be a very large country geographically, but it is a country that is always present in big tournaments.
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“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We always want to get to the further stages but that is difficult because there are many strong countries.
“The results are showing this. The tournaments has only just started but you can notice this already. We know we have a strong team and what we need to improve in order to have a real chance but you need to take it one game at a time.”
