Louis van Gaal wants to include four goalkeepers in the Netherlands’ World Cup squad if possible, and is subjecting the four in the latest selection plus Justin Bijlow and Kjell Scherpen to “scientific” penalty tests at the training camp this week.
Jasper Cillessen, Remko Pasveer, Mark Flekken and Andries Noppert were all included in the latest Netherlands squad, with previous number one Bijlow left out after failing to impress Van Gaal with his performances for Feyenoord.
It was widely expected that one would drop out when the manager chooses the World Cup squad, but with 26 players allowed to be in it, a higher number than usual, he wants to take four.
“There may have to be a fourth goalkeeper. We still have to look into that,” he told the press.
“I always want to bring four goalkeepers. Goalkeepers are a special people, you can’t just replace them. Players you can still replace with someone who normally plays at a different position.
“If we get the chance to select more players, I would like to choose an extra goalkeeper.”
In the press conference, he always revealed that, despite not being in the current squad, Bijlow and Scherpen will be at the training camp this week to take part in “scientific” penalty tests conducted by goalkeeper coach Peter Murphy.
“He’s going to do all kinds of tests with the players, but also test how to intimidate the opponent,” Van Gaal said.
“We hope to do that in practice. That’s two or three training sessions. I have to connect that with eleven against eleven and then we will also test the goalkeepers.”
“Bijlow and Scherpen are coming on Tuesday. They have to stop those penalties then.”
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