Will the Dutch suffer without three of their main stars Frenkie de Jong, Teun Koopmeiners and Marten de Roon.

All three players met up with the squad when the provisional squad was announced but got sent home due to injury before the competition started.

This season De Jong has played 20 games for Barcelona and scored 2 & assisted 3 by playing in a deeper role. Koopmeiners had a breakthrough season for Atalanta scoring 12 goals and getting 5 assists in 34 Serie A appearances, which has allowed talks that English side Liverpool want to sign him this summer. The other injured midfielder, de Roon, has also come off a brilliant season with Atalanta playing 46 games and helping them win the UEFA Europa League. These three will be a huge loss for the Oranje.

The Dutch team has many quality players but with all three players playing central midfield it has put them short in that area. One of the players who did get a late call up due to these injuries is young star Joshua Zirkzee, who has come off an amazing season in Italy for Bologna. The 23-year-old was originally left out of Ronald Koeman’s plans but due to the number of injuries he got added in the end. He has not played yet in the first team for his nation; what a time for him to potentially make that appearance.

Yesterday the Netherlands beat Poland 2-1 with an 83rd minute goal from substitute Wout Weghorst, which has put them top of their group before France play later today. The midfield three for this game was Joey Veerman, Jerdy Schouten and Tijjant Reijnders, between these three they only have 24 games for their national team. For context De Jong has 54 appearances alone.

Ronald Koeman's side clearly missed the presence of de Jong and lacked any real clarity to their midfield play. Ultimately their success in Hamburg came from skipping the midfield out entirely, instead playing directly from their centre halves into their forwards.

In a recent article, we explained how the Netherlands could have an outside chance of winning the completion but will these injuries stop them in their tracks this tournament? A meeting with France in Leipzig on Friday night should hold the answers.