The Dutch team calls Xavi Simons for the 2022 World Cup

Following his colleagues, coach Louis van Gaal finalized the Dutch squad for the 2022 World Cup. This squad does not have a place for Sven Botman, Donny van de Beek or Ryan Gravenberch.

The Netherlands are in Group A, where they will face Senegal, Ecuador and host Qatar.

In the 26-player squad announced on Twitter on Friday 11, Van Gaal has chosen PSV Eindhoven's rising star Xavi Simons. At the age of 19, the former student of Barcelona's La Masia restaurant is considered one of the stars of the future, and he soon had the opportunity to show himself on the international stage.

However, Van Gaal has refused to choose Newcastle United centre-back Botman and Bayern Munich midfielder Gravenberch, as De Telegraaf reported.

Botman, who joined Newcastle United from Lille in the summer, was left out after being named in the preliminary squad. The centre-back has represented the Netherlands at youth levels, but has never made his international debut.

Bayern midfielder Gravenberch, 20, has made 11 appearances for the Netherlands, but only one of those in 2022. He lost his position due to fierce competition for positions.

As for Van de Beek, despite working with his former coach Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, he still could not find the opportunity to play regularly so he was eliminated.

experienced goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, who has played 63 times for the Netherlands since 2013, was also not selected. That was another disappointment for the goalkeeper after he missed EURO 2020 due to a COVID-19 infection.

The Dutch site AD said that the decision to keep Cillessen at home caused the 33-year-old player to 'explode out of anger'.

Other absentees in the squad include Brian Brobbey, Guus Til, Micky van de Ven, Devyne Rensch and Mitchel Bakker. Rensch's right-back position was replaced by Jeremie Frimpong of Bayer Leverkusen.

Of course, the " orange tornado" squad still has prominent names, including Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, Bayern Munich's Mathijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona. In the front line they have Memphis Depay and Steven Bergwijn and others.

Its not easy to drop someones name, the 71-year-old coach shared, I spent an hour and 45 minutes calling FaceTime with 11 players this morning. That's not easy at all."

The summoned members will gather on Monday, November 14, before leaving for Qatar. Their opening match against Senegal took place a week later, on November 21.