Striker Dost retires from Dutch national team

The Hague (AFP) – Dutch striker Bas Dost said in an interview published on Tuesday that he won’t play for the Netherlands again.

The 28-year-old has scored 59 goals in 57 games in two seasons with Sporting Lisbon, but has not sparkled for the Oranje, scoring just once in 18 appearances, although only four of those were starts.

“Things have not gone well with the national team for some reason,” Dost told Algemeen Dagblad. “It’s time to say: I’m stopping here, it isn’t working.”

Dost started the recent friendly loss to England, Ronald Koeman’s first match in charge, but was an unused substitute as the Dutch beat Portugal a few days later.

“I felt pathetic for a whole week,” he said. “That was the decisive factor.”