Sunderland loanee Geertruida called up by Netherlands as Ta Bi shines for U21s | OneFootball

Sunderland’s World Cup contingent has grown to 12, with loanee Lutsharel Geertruida drafted into the Netherlands squad after Arsenal’s Jurriën Timber failed to recover from a groin injury. The Black Cats already had 11 players from the squad that sealed a historic Europa League qualification heading to the finals.

The Netherlands FA said Timber had not recovered sufficiently and would leave the pre-camp in New York after facing Uzbekistan, and that Ronald Koeman had called up Geertruida, restoring the group at base camp in Kansas to 26 players.

Geertruida made 30 appearances during a season-long loan from RB Leipzig. He appears set to return to Leipzig, so is unlikely to join Sunderland’s preparations for a landmark campaign.

The Netherlands will meet Japan, Sweden and Tunisia in the group stage.

Winger Jocelin Ta Bi will not be in Ivory Coast’s senior World Cup squad, but he has impressed for the Under-21s. Signed from Maccabi Netanya in January, he played two games before an ankle injury, then was an unused substitute in Sunderland’s last four matches and returned to fitness for the Maurice Revello Tournament in France.

He scored the opener in a 3-3 draw with Japan last Monday, then did so again in a 3-1 win over Venezuela two days later. Omitted for a 0-0 draw with Portugal on Saturday, he returned to the starting 11 and struck a brace in a 2-1 victory against Canada on Tuesday night.

That result secured a semi-final place, with Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, China and Congo in contention to be their opponents.

Source: Sunderland Echo