World Cup 2018: 17-year-old Matthijs de Ligt at fault for both Bulgaria goals on Holland debut but with just six league appearances, why was he playing?
Injury to No.1 centre-back Stefan de Vrij meant Danny Blind would have to call upon debutant, but he had Wesley Hoedt
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HOLLAND boss Danny Blind handed 17-year-old Matthis de Ligt a first international start in the crunch World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria.
But it was a debut to forget as the Ajax defender was at fault for BOTH goals in the 2-0 defeat before being substituted at half-time.
The result leaves the Dutch on the brink of missing out on a second-consecutive major tournament.
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De Ligt became the youngest Holland debutant since 1931 but, with just six league appearances under his belt, many were left questioning just why was he was given so much responsibility.
The pressure was on for the Dutch, who now face the real prospect of not reaching the 2018 World Cup, having already missed out on a place at last summer’s Euro 2016 finals.
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Only one side is guaranteed qualification with eight of nine runners-up going through to a play-off round.
Holland are in a tricky group alongside Sweden and France — and have so far picked up just one point against the pair.
These results meant the pressure was cranked up for their trip to Sofia, which made Blind’s decision to start De Ligt all the more bizarre.
A recent knee injury to Stefan De Vrij meant there would have to be a debutant starting the crunch clash in the centre of defence.
But many expected it to be 23-year-old Lazio ace, Wesley Hoedt, who has over 70 first team matches under his belt.
However, Blind turned to De Ligt and it took just five minutes for the decision to backfire.
The 17-year-old badly misjudged a long ball and was beaten in the air to allow Spas Delev to open the scoring.
He was at fault again when the Pogon Szczecin striker netted his second.
De Ligt’s poor headed clearance was pounced upon by Delev and he then hesitated to allow the Bulgaria ace to make it 2-0.
Blind effectively admitted to making the glaring error by replacing the debutant with Hoedt at the interval.
Throughout the years, Holland have built their success on giving their younger players the responsibility — most notably in the mid-1990s when the great Ajax side won the Champions League.
And squads built of more or less the same players reached the USA 94 and Euro 96 quarter-finals as well as the semi-finals at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 — losing on penalties in each of the latter three.
However, the quality of the senior players is now on the wane, and there is no one to aid the kids through the pressure of international football.