Robben and Van Nistelrooy miss out
 |  Robben was injured soon after scoring the only goal against Blackburn |
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ZEIST, Netherlands -- Arjen Robben and Ruud van Nistelrooy will be missing when the Netherlands play England in Wednesday's friendly international in Birmingham.
The English-based forwards, both nursing injuries, were not included in the 18-man Dutch squad announced by coach Marco van Basten.
Manchester United striker Van Nistelrooy is still recovering from a calf injury, while Chelsea's Robben has pulled out with an ankle injury sustained on Wednesday against Blackburn.
"It's disappointing to be without Robben once again but we have to wait and see how his injury evolves and we hope to welcome him when we play Romania in March," said Van Basten.
"We had contact with the medical staff of Chelsea and on the first MRI scan there was no damage visible and Robben will undergo a new scan next week," he said.
"We expect Van Nistelrooy and Robben to be fit for the World Cup qualifiers, so we will pay some extra attention to our defence in the match against England."
Van Basten called up AZ Alkmaar goalkeeper Henk Timmer and Heerenveen winger Ugur Yildirim for the first time and picked only four forwards, Dirk Kuijt, Romeo Castelen, Roy Makaay and Yildirim.
Captain Edgar Davids of Inter Milan was not included with Van Basten underlining it was important that players played regularly for their clubs.
"I spoke about this with Edgar and for him it is time he played again for Internazionale," said Van Basten. Davids has not been seeing regular action for his Italian club side.
"It wouldn't be fair to other players if we invited Edgar right now.
"During the last transfer window I was hopeful that he would have a transfer but in this situation I am not very hopeful for the coming months."
Yildirim's first call-up follows a tense period during which he had to decide whether to play for the Netherlands, where he was born, or Turkey, the country of his parents. He made the decision two weeks ago.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Fulham), Henk Timmer (AZ Alkmaar)
Defenders: Khalid Bhoulahrouz (Waalwijk), Mario Melchiot (Birmingham) Nigel de Jong (Ajax), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Barcelona), Joris Mathijsen (AZ Alkmaar), Jan Kromkamp (AZ Alkmaar), Wilfred Bouma (PSV Eindhoven)
Midfielders: Mark van Bommel (PSV Eindhoven), Johnny Heitinga (Ajax) Rafael van der Vaart (Ajax), Wesley Sneijder (Ajax), Denny Landzaat (AZ Alkmaar)
Forwards: Roy Makaay (Bayern Munich), Romeo Castelen (Feyenoord), Dirk Kuijt (Feyenoord), Ugur Yildirim (Heerenveen)
