Van Gaal plays down van Persie injury
Soccer:Holland coach Louis van Gaal played down concerns over the fitness of Robin van Persie after the Manchester United striker was replaced at half-time during last night’s World Cup qualifying victory over Hungary.
Van Persie was forced out of the 4-1 win in Budapest after suffering a knock to his thigh, with Klaas Jan Huntelaar brought on in his place, but the Oranje boss insisted he was merely erring on the side of caution.“We took off Robin for precautionary measures,” Van Gaal said. “It doesn’t seem to be too serious, but you never know. We didn’t want to take any risks.”
Van Persie’s injury scare came after the Dutch had already lost Arjen Robben to a groin strain in the warm-up, with the Bayern Munich winger’s misfortune allowing Jeremain Lens into the starting team.
And Lens did not let his opportunity pass him by, turning in a man-of-the-match display.
The PSV Eindhoven striker, winning only his sixth cap, scored twice and hit the crossbar before setting up the fourth goal for Huntelaar.
