Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk says the poor state of the pitch at the Volksparkstadion ahead of his side’s Euro 2024 opener against Poland on Sunday is “a shame”.
Both Netherlands and Poland have expressed concerns about the turf and neither side held their last pre-match training session at the stadium in Hamburg.
“We don’t know exactly yet whether the pitch is very bad,” Van Dijk told a press conference on Saturday, saying it was similar to the pitch used for a Netherlands friendly against Germany in Frankfurt in March.
Both players are in good form, with a goal apiece across the two 4-0 warm-up wins over Canada and Iceland.
“He is one of the greatest talents we currently have in the Netherlands,” Koeman said of Simons.
“He has already played in many matches as a starter at an early age. He is developing and for a young player there are always ups and downs, especially with a national team.
“But we are confident that he will play a very good European Championship.”
The 21-year-old Simons has only netted once in 14 international appearances — against Iceland earlier this week — but Van Dijk is also confident the youngster will deliver.
“He can give so much more than he does now. He can do much better,” said the Liverpool defender.
“He has the right mentality, so I’m not worried about that not happening. This will be a big tournament for him and I have a lot of confidence in him.”
The Dutch will be hoping to make a strong start to Group D, with a game against tournament favourites France to follow next Friday before facing Austria on June 25.
