Babel will not go to Bern!

[smegma]

Ryan Babel has been ruled out of the Netherlands squad for UEFA EURO 2008™ after suffering an ankle injury in training on Saturday.

Torn ligaments
The 21-year-old Liverpool FC forward tore ankle ligaments during practice in the Dutch village of Hoenderloo and his hopes of appearing in Austria and Switzerland look to be over. Initial examinations suggest he will be sidelined "for several weeks at least".

'A real pity'
With Babel having featured in eleven of the Netherlands' 12 qualifying matches, his loss will be a big blow for Marco van Basten. "The incident was totally unexpected," said the Oranje coach, who is permitted to call up a replacement. "There was no contact with another player. Maybe it was caused by end-of-season fatigue. It is a real pity he is no longer available – he has shown some nice things in the previous weeks."

Wales friendly
Used as a second-half substitute in each of the Netherlands' last two friendlies, Babel was on target against Ukraine on Thursday evening. The Oranje will obviously be shorn of him for their final friendly tomorrow against Wales, eight days before kicking off their UEFA EURO 2008™ campaign versus world champions Italy.


http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/news/kind=1/newsid=703652.html

[K.Dub]