The World Cup finalists are also missing suspended center back John Heitinga, but the defense should not be seriously tested by the amateurs from San Marino in Serravalle.
While the team is based around a nucleus of players who lost 1-0 in extra time to Spain in the World Cup final, there also will be new and old faces and a new captain.
Ajax defender Vurnon Anita will likely take over Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s spot at left back and Bayern Munich midfield enforcer Mark van Bommel has been given the captaincy.
“We’re keeping it in the family,” said Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk, who is also Van Bommel’s father-in-law. “He was the unanimous choice. Mark has a lot of experience as captain of PSV and Bayern Munich. He also marshals the team on the pitch and is a leadership figure.”
The trip to San Marino also marks the international comeback of veteran striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was called up this week to cover for Van Persie after the Arsenal forward injured his left ankle on Saturday.
Van Nistelrooy has not played under Van Marwijk — his last match was in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008, when he scored the only goal in a 3-1 loss to Russia. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player has scored 33 goals in 64 international appearances.
“I’m taking it very seriously, but it feels like a joke,” Van Nistelrooy told the official Dutch supporters’ website. “I’m back. I’m happy.”
It is not clear if Van Nistelrooy, who has scored three goals already this season for Hamburg, will start Friday’s match. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who has just transferred from AC Milan to Schalke, is more likely to start up front.
Robben is missing with a left hamstring injury and is expected to be out for the rest of the year.
Forward Dirk Kuyt said that after the highs and lows of reaching and then losing the World Cup final — the third time the Netherlands has fallen at the last hurdle in football’s biggest tournament — the team now has to start over.
“We are now back to square one,” Kuyt said. “It is very important that you begin well and get six points from the first two matches.”
San Marino, a tiny city state in central Italy, has a squad made up almost entirely of amateurs. Forward Andy Selva, who plays for Verona in Italy’s Serie B, is the top scoring threat.
After Friday’s match, the Netherlands heads home to take on Finland in Rotterdam next Tuesday in Group E.
Zidane returns to help boost France team’s morale
In Clairefontaine, France, Zinedine Zidane made an appearance at France’s training camp on Wednesday to help coach Laurent Blanc restore the beleaguered national team’s confidence following its poor performance at the World Cup.
Zidane lunched with the players at the Clairefontaine camp and watched videos of his France team winning the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship. He also signed autographs and briefly showed off his ball skills.
France hosts Belarus on Friday before traveling to Bosnia on Tuesday in qualifying for Euro 2012.
“I wished them good luck for what’s fast approaching,” said Zidane, who last visited Clairefontaine when preparing for his final tournament, the 2006 World Cup. “They’re a new generation and they have important things ahead of them. The France team is the ultimate level you can reach.”
Blanc wanted the presence of Zidane and former France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez to help boost the team’s low morale and instill some core values that were lost in South Africa.
France’s entire squad went on strike during a practice at the World Cup in protest after Nicolas Anelka was sent home for swearing at then-coach Raymond Domenech.
France left the World Cup in South Africa without winning a single game — the second straight first-round exit for Domenech after the poor Euro 2008 campaign.
A gifted playmaker, Zidane played 108 times for France and was the undisputed star of a teams that also included Barthez and Blanc, a stylish defender who played for Inter Milan and Manchester United.
Things have gone badly wrong for France in the decade since Zidane, Barthez and Blanc won the Euro 2000 trophy.
“I explained to them that the most important thing is to start winning again,” Zidane said. “Because a team is judged solely on its results.”
Poor performances on the field under former coach Raymond Domenech paled into comparison compared to the scenes during the training ground boycott. Patrice Evra led the players onto the team bus and drew the curtains, moments after he had a heated argument with the team’s fitness coach. One furious French football official then resigned on the spot.
As punishment for being the perceived ringleaders of the training strike, Evra, Franck Ribery and Jeremy Toulalan were all suspended by the French Football Federation. Anelka was given a massive 18-game ban.
Toulalan received only a one-game ban, ruling him out of the Belarus game, but Blanc did not pick him anyway.
Evra was banned for five games and Ribery, a former vice captain, was suspended for three matches. Both players have been ruled out the opening two qualifiers.
