Arjen Robben vs Franck Ribery put on hold

Paris: Arjen Robben will miss out on the chance of playing against his Bayern Munich team mate Franck Ribery after pulling out of the Netherlands squad for Wednesday’s friendly against France in Paris.

Robben has stayed with the Dutch squad for the World Cup warm-up match but has a thigh injury suffered in last weekend’s Bundesliga win over Schalke 04.

“It is not feeling good and it is better not to take any risks,” he told reporters.

The Dutch football association said on Tuesday it had called up Ajax Amsterdam captain Siem de Jong in place of Rafael van der Vaart who was also added to the squad as a replacement.

Van der Vaart and goalkeeper Michael Vorm are both ill and did not travel to the French capital.

Real Sociedad winger Antoine Griezmann is set to be handed his debut for France, meanwhile.

The 22-year-old, who has scored 15 goals in La Liga this season, says he has learnt from the episode in October 2012 when he and four colleagues in the France under-21 squad were given long bans from representing their country.

The quintet breached squad rules to take a taxi from the Normandy city of Le Havre to Paris — a distance of 200 kilometres — for a night out just before an important game, but Griezmann has worked hard to recover his reputation since then.

“I have learnt a lot. I am another person now. That is in the past. I have proved that I can be a good professional on and off the pitch,” he said on Monday.

“I am not putting any pressure on myself. (The World Cup) is quite far away. I will need to keep working hard for my club and keep up the good statistics.

“Everybody has given me a warm welcome. This is the most beautiful shirt that you could pull on,” he added.

This is France’s last game before Deschamps names a provisional 30-man squad on May 13 for the finals, in which the 1998 world champions will meet Honduras, Switzerland and Ecuador in their group.

Deschamps admitted that the victory against Ukraine must be used as a reference point.

“I can’t recreate the same context but we need to maintain the same spirit and motivation,” he said, while confirming that the game is “a chance for the youngsters to gain some experience.”

The case is the same for Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal, who has left out several notable names for the game, including Fulham goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong as well as injured Hamburg midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart.

Instead, this will be a chance for younger players such as 21-year-old Ajax midfielder Davy Klaassen to impress Van Gaal, although established names like Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar are in the squad.

“We follow nearly 50 players, who all have a chance of being chosen,” said van Gaal, who looks set to be replaced at the helm of the Oranje by Guus Hiddink after the World Cup.

Therefore De Jong, for one, remains a contender to go to Brazil, with van Gaal simply preferring to see what Feyenoord’s Jordy Clasie and PSV Eindhoven’s Stijn Schaars can offer.

“This says nothing about De Jong’s status,” insisted the coach, who is preparing for a tough World Cup group containing Spain - who beat them in the 2010 final —- Australia and Chile.