Arjen Robben is ready to take a gamble by playing against Cameroon on Thursday for the Netherlands (Holland 1/33 to win Group E).
The winger suffered a hamstring injury during the Dutch side’s final warm-up game against Hungary, and had to have five days of treatment.
He said he could play against Cameroon, just 19 days since he suffered the injury.
“Playing against Cameroon is possible,” Robben told reporters. “Risk is a big word as we already have taken a risk by choosing an aggressive treatment, where we could have written off the World Cup and said just go on holiday.”
The Dutch are already through to the last 16, so the pressure is off them to play their first-choice team against the already-eliminated Cameroon side.
The questions about a “missing link” in the Dutch side have made Robben a hot media topic but the nature of the injury has left him on the sidelines.
“You have to be 100 percent to play,” he said. “So far we have been considering the situation day-by-day as it happened only two weeks ago and normally it would take four to six weeks to recover from such an injury,” he added.
“Yesterday I had a tough training session, with some good five-a-side matches, and I came through well. I don’t think there’s a big risk that anything will happen to the hamstring.”
If Robben features at these finals it will be his fourth straight appearance at a major tournament.
“It has been hard so far,” said Robben. “I noticed during the first two matches that it is painful if you can’t play and just have to stay on the sidelines.”
“The recuperation was no fun at all and sometimes I felt like a martyr but I knew why I did it,” he added.
Holland boss Bert van Marwijk will let Robben make his own judgment over his fitness.
The winger has missed Holland’s two Group E victories with a hamstring problem so far as his team-mates breezed into the last 16 by beating Denmark and Japan.
“I am going to leave him to make the decision,” said Van Marwijk.
“He knows his own body best and he will let me know when he is ready.
“It can be in the next game or it can be in the knockout phase. He must take the decision.
“I’d prefer that he is used only when he is fit.”
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