Any Brighton and Hove Albion fans worried about Bart Verbruggen at the World Cup can rest assured. Jan Paul van Hecke is confident his Seagulls teammate will be fine.
FC Update report comments from the Brighton defender today. He’s confident his club teammate will be ready for the Netherlands this weekend as they kick off their World Cup campaign.
Brighton goalkeeper faces fitness race before Netherlands opener
Bart Verbruggen is facing a race to be fit for the Netherlands first game of the World Cup after suffering an injury in training. They take on Japan in Group F.
The 23-year-old has been training alone thanks to bruising, with all eyes on whether he’ll make the game or not.
Manager Ronald Koeman provided a positive update this week as he insisted the injury could have been much worse. Now Van Hecke has added to the positivity.
“I think things are heading in the right direction, so I hope he (Vebruggen) will be back on Sunday,” he told NOS.
“He trained again for the first time today and I think it went well. I haven’t discussed it with him in detail.”
Brighton defender remains upbeat despite Dutch concerns
The defender is also confident that the Netherlands are in for a good tournament, despite some disappointing results and performances in their warm up games.
“I’m seeing positive things happening, especially over the last few days,” he added.
“You can tell the World Cup and the matches are getting closer. That feeling is building, and you sense you’re part of something special.
“The atmosphere within the squad is good too. Training sessions have been good. It really is that lovely feeling of: it’s actually about to begin.”
He is, though, well aware of growing unease among the Dutch fanbase and in the Netherlands following the poor performances against Algeria and Uzbekistan.
“I can see why. We feel ourselves that it was a bit of a let-down,” he concluded.
“There are reasons for that. Fortunately, there are reasons, otherwise it would be more worrying,” said Van Hecke. “We’ve trained well over the last few days and the mood is positive. We need to show that on Sunday.”
