Ronald Koeman was not present at the closed training session of Oranje in Zeist on Tuesday. The national coach decided that it was better to be somewhere else due to the health situation of his wife.
“If you leave, it means something. I don’t do that lightly. It has to do with my wife,” Koeman said to the NOS on Wednesday in Malta, where the Oranje awaits a World Cup qualifying match on Thursday.
It is known that Koeman’s wife, Bartina Koeman, suffers from a chronic form of breast cancer. She was first diagnosed with cancer in 2010, and the disease returned in 2018. Five years later, the disease was diagnosed again, this time in chronic form.
Koeman said that he had no doubts about traveling to Malta. After Wednesday’s training, where he was present again, he flew with the Oranje selection to the island in the Mediterranean Sea.
“I had no doubts about traveling. We discussed those kinds of things well,” Koeman said on Thursday evening during a press moment in the National Stadium in Ta’ Qali. “There was something why I said: I have to go home. I don’t want to elaborate too much on it.”
Malta-Netherlands starts on Thursday at 8:45 PM in the National Stadium. On Friday, the Oranje selection flies back to the Netherlands, where Finland is the next opponent in the World Cup qualification. That match will be played in the Johan Cruijff ArenA.