Dutch publication Voetbal International is reporting that Barcelona attacking midfielder/winger Ibrahim Afellay will be dropped from the Netherlands' starting XI when they take on Germany later on Wednesday. Dirk Kuyt is believed to be the man taking Afellay's place in the side. The report also says that Ron Vlaar and Mark van Bommel could potentially be dropped, but is less definitive on those possibilities.
Afellay missed most of the season for Barcelona with a knee injury and barely made it back to full fitness in time to make the Netherlands' team for Euro 2012. He was hardly the Netherlands' problem in their 1-0 loss to Denmark, but Bert van Marwijk might feel like Afellay doesn't give him anything that Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder don't already, while Kuyt brings phenomenal work rate and some defensive qualities.
If Vlaar is dropped, it will be for first choice central defender Joris Mathijsen, who missed the Denmark game with an injury. He recently returned to full training. That decision is simply based on fitness, but any decision to drop van Bommel would be a tactical one. The Netherlands absolutely cannot afford to lose to Germany and need to attack. Van Bommel and his partner Nigel De Jong are both true defensive midfielders that offer nothing going forward, and it makes sense that van Marwijk would want to bench one of them in a situation where his team has to score.
We'll have live coverage of the game in our Netherlands vs. Germany, Euro 2012 StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.
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