This newsitem has been supplied by PSV.nl
Netherlands coach Marco van Basten has included Ibrahim Afellay, along with the former PSV players Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Wilfred Bouma, André Ooijer and Ruud van Nistelrooy, in his 21-man-squad for Wednesday's friendly international against Croatia. PSV striker Danny Koevermans, who was called up to the 27-man-provisional squad, has been dropped from the definitive squad.
Ibrahim Afellay and former PSV striker Vennegoor of Hesselink were last called up to the Netherlands squad for the Euro 2008 qualifying games against Bulgaria and Albania on 8 and 12 September respectively. Croatia v Netherlands is scheduled on Wednesday 6 February at the Poljud Stadium in Split, with a 20:30 kick off.
Ismail Aissati, Otman Bakkal and Dirk Marcellis have been called up to the squad of the Dutch Olympic team. They will travel to Italy on Monday to meet the Italian Olympic team at the Paolo Mazza Stadium in Ferrara on Tuesday, kick off at 21:00. As a general rule, only players who were born on or after 1 January 1985 are eligible to make appearances for the Dutch Olympic team, whereas the age limit for Holland Under-21 is 1 January 1986. Otman Bakkal and Hedwiges Maduro, who were both born in 1985, are the only players in the Dutch Olympic squad who are not eligible to play for Holland Under-21.