Some Netherlands fans let out a collective gasp after seeing their team’s lineup to face Bulgaria in World Cup qualifying on Saturday. 17-year-old Matthijs de Ligt was named in the team and made his Netherlands debut as a starter in the center of the Oranje defense. It went very poorly.
17-year-old Matthijs de Ligt was set up to fail in his Netherlands debut
After just 13 first team games, de Ligt was thrown into the fire by Danny Blind. It was an awful decision.
Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images
De Ligt looked overwhelmed in his debut, making errors on two Bulgaria goals. With the Netherlands trailing 2-0 at halftime, he was substituted. And de Ligt’s struggles shouldn’t be blamed on him, but on manager Danny Blind, who should have known it was too much, too soon for his young star defender. The Netherlands went on to lose the match, and Blind was fired 24 hours later.
While age shouldn’t dictate whether or not a player is worthy of a national team place, experience should be considered, and de Ligt doesn’t have much — he’s only played 13 first team games for Ajax. Of those 13 appearances, three have been in cup play, with six coming in the Eredivisie and four in the Europa League. He’s started the last two Ajax matches, against FC Copenhagen in Europa League and Excelsior in the Eredivisie.
Blind was going to have to turn to a debutante at the center of defense no matter what in this game, after star Stefan de Vrij picked up an injury and failed to pass fit. But most expected the player making his debut to be Wesley Hoedt, who has about 60 games of pro experience on de Ligt. Hoedt eventually replaced de Ligt at halftime.
It only took 5 minutes for Blind’s initial lineup decision to backfire. De Ligt made a huge error on Bulgaria’s opening goal, getting badly beaten by Spas Delev.
It happened again in the 21st minute, with Delev taking advantage of a mistake by de Ligt a second time.
These errors aren’t de Ligt’s fault. 17-year-olds with minimal professional experience shouldn’t be thrown into World Cup qualifiers like this. Hopefully this doesn’t negatively affect de Ligt’s career going forward, but it probably should negatively affect Blind’s.
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