© EuroFootball.com
Three players' hopes to participate in the European Championship have ended. Mark van Bommel, Paul Freier, and Marco Streller will not be able to help their national teams - respectively the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland.
Eindhoven captain van Bommel did not have enough time to recover from an Achilles tendon injury suffered in the last match of the season on May 9, where his team played against "ADO Den Haag". Van Bommel will be replaced by veteran Paul Bosvelt. For this 34-year-old midfielder, it will be his last tournament in the Netherlands national team.
Attacking midfielder Paul Freier picked up an injury during a friendly match against Malta on Thursday, in which Germany crushed the opponents 7-0. After the match, Freier was taken to the hospital where it was discovered that his knee ligaments were injured. German national team coach Rudi Voller has not yet named a replacement for Freier, as he wanted to see how Germany's youth team would perform in the European U-21 Championship Group B match against Sweden. Although the Germans lost that match, one of their best players was Lukas Podolski, who is the main candidate to replace Freier.
On Sunday morning, during Switzerland's national team training, striker Marco Streller broke his foot after colliding with Marc Zwyssig. The 22-year-old player would most likely have been in the starting lineup alongside Alexander Frei and Stephane Chapuisat. It is currently difficult to determine who will replace Streller, possible options are Leonard Thurre and Milaim Rama who play in Switzerland, but coach Jakob Kuhn may also choose one of the youth team players.
