Sven Botman called up by the Netherlands, still to debut

Will Sven Botman ever play for Holland’s senior national team? Hard to predict!

The Newcastle defender has been called up by Holland’s manager Ronald Koeman for the second time in two months, although Botman didn’t get to earn his first cap at the senior level when he was called up for international duties back in March because of a virus that forced him and four other players present in the camp to return home.

Botman will get another chance next mid-June under warmer weather when the Netherlands faces Croatia in a UEFA Nations League clash in Rotterdam. The matchup is part of the mini-tourney semi-final, staged to be played inside Feyenoord’s De Kuip stadium.

The big defensive stalwart is still to debut among the big boys of the Netherlands squad, having to withdraw from the squad with illness back in March. He should not have a problem earning some minutes—if not actually starting—for his nation in the game against Croatia considering the masterful season he’s put together while playing club-level football at Newcastle.

Botman narrowly missed on making the World Cup squad back in November, but the young defender has received two calls after that in the past few months to finally debut with the Netherlands—first ahead of their EURO 2024 qualifiers against France and Gibraltar in March, and now in an even more important matchup against Croatia that could help his country to get a straight qualification into EURO 2024 if they win the Nations League.

The 23-year-old has featured for his country from under-15 up to under-21 level but has not yet made his debut at the highest of levels. Manager Ronald Koeman finally decided to call him up in March and after forfeiting those games, the Magpie should undoubtedly collect his first cap in June.

The winner of this matchup will go on to face the winner of the other semi-final, which will pit Spain and Italy against each other. The champion of the UEFA Nations League will earn an automatic place in the group stage of EURO 2024 next year.