Kenneth Taylor and Ian Maatsen were included in the Jong Oranje squad on Monday for the European Championship under 21 next month in Slovakia. Mexx Meerdink and Wouter Goes have been left out of the selection by national coach Michael Reiziger, while Emanuel Emegha is missing due to an injury.
Taylor and Maatsen played with the Dutch national team against Spain in the quarter-finals of the Nations League in March, but they have also regularly been part of the Jong Oranje squad in recent years. They are now rejoining Reiziger’s squad and will therefore be absent from the Oranje squad for the World Cup qualifying matches against Finland (June 7) and Malta (June 10).
Jorrel Hato has been called up for both Oranje and Jong Oranje. He will therefore first play in the World Cup qualification with coach Ronald Koeman’s team and then travel to Slovakia for the European Championship under 21. Jong Oranje’s first match at the European Championship is on June 12 in Kosice against Finland.
It is striking that Noah Ohio and Thom van Bergen are the centre forwards in the European Championship selection. Van Bergen only scored five league goals for FC Groningen this season, while Ohio is not a regular starter at FC Utrecht. They are preferred over Meerdink, who scored four times for AZ in the play-offs last week.
Meerdink did not make a good impression on national coach Reiziger last November, according to sources in Zeist. The striker reported himself injured when he was on the standby list of Jong Oranje. During the same international break, Meerdink did play in a practice match for his club AZ.
Emegha has to miss the European Championship due to an injury. He scored fourteen times for French RC Strasbourg in Ligue 1 last season. Other notable absentees are AZ player Goes, Feyenoord player Givairo Read and FC Groningen playmaker Luciano Valente, who have been passed over by Reiziger.
Reiziger speaks of difficult choices
Reiziger had to make “difficult choices”. “But this shows how much talent we have running around in the Netherlands,” says Reiziger, who extended his contract until mid-2027 on Monday, in a press release from the KNVB. “With this team we expect to be able to aim high during the European Championship. Our goal is and remains to play for the top prize.”
Ajax is the main supplier in the European Championship selection with four players. In addition to Taylor and Hato, Youri Baas and Youri Regeer have also been called up. AZ is represented by three players: Rome Jayden Owusu-Oduro, Ruben van Bommel and Ernest Poku.
For Million Manhoef, Devyne Rensch, Taylor and Maatsen, this will be their second European Championship with Jong Oranje, after they were eliminated in the first round in Georgia two years ago. Jong Oranje became European champion twice: in 2006 and 2007 under the leadership of Foppe de Haan.