Zeist (dpa / lsw) - The Netherlands are surprisingly traveling to the World Cup in Qatar without goalkeeper Mark Flekken from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg. Despite good performances in the current season, the 29-year-old was dropped from the provisional squad and is not part of the 26-man squad for the winter tournament that the 1988 European champions presented on Friday. Flekken has played four senior internationals for the Dutch side so far. He was in the squad for the Nations League games in September but was not used.
Dortmund’s Donyell Malen, Leverkusen’s Mitchel Bakker, Wolfsburg’s Micky van de Ven and Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch also have no place in Bonds coach Louis van Gaal’s World Cup squad. Bayern defender Matthijs de Ligt was called up despite his knee injury, as was Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong. The Oranje team meets hosts Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal in the preliminary round of the World Cup.
