Khalid Boulahrouz - wife or country?

[Trufflehound]

Dutch player Khalid Boulahrouz's wife gave birth three months prematurely on Wednesday and the baby Anissa died the same day.

Despite obviously being upset about this, Boulahrouz has told van Basten he's available for selection tomorrow.

Now, whilst his dedication to his country is admirable, surely his place is with his wife at this time? His team mates could probably then be relied upon to go out and "win it for Anissa".

At a very downbeat and sombre press conference yesterday, van Basten told reporters it was Boulahrouz's decision and he had to respect it...


What would you do? Surely family comes first?

 

[Citrus]

Bloody hell. I guees everyone has their own way of dealing with things.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Personally there is no way on earth I would be able to play, even if I wanted to.

Who knows how he will actually bear up. If I were Van Basten, I wouldn't play him anyway.

Let his mates win the thing and bring a medal home for him. He should be with his wife.

 

[steward 433]

Personally there is no way on earth I would be able to play, even if I wanted to.

Who knows how he will actually bear up. If I were Van Basten, I wouldn't play him anyway.

Let his mates win the thing and bring a medal home for him. He should be with his wife.

Absolutely 100% spot on in all 3 cases

No way can Van-Basten play him, He will be all over the place

 

[Kaiser_Soze]

Maybe he needs to feel in control-he's had a horrific event happen to him and his wife that he had no control over. Maybe he needs to be involved and influence things rather than sitting there watching the tournament fly by and again feeling a lack of control.

Not suggesting he's a control freak but whenever a major incident like that happens in life a lot of people need the reassurance that they are in control and life isnt just happening around them.

 

[captainmorganrum]

Personally there is no way on earth I would be able to play, even if I wanted to.

Likewise, but perhaps Mrs Boulahrouz has told him to go out and win it for Anissa.
We don't know what was said behind closed doors.

Brave decision.

 

[Stinkers Bridge]

I don't really know his wife, so I would probably still play the game.

 

[SurreySeagulls]

Everyone deals with personal grief differently.

My father died on a Friday and on the Saturday I went to work at Tesco as normal (I was 16 at the time). Some people would say how could you etc but this was how I handled it at the time.

So I don't know how people can judge him for doing what he is doing when they don't know the full facts behind such as obvious personal loss.

Nothing he does will bring back that loss but in someway it may help him through it.

 

[Nibble]

Perhaps he's not that fussed.

 

[Tooting Gull]

On the face of it, it does seem almost unbelievable that you wouldn't want to be with your wife. There may be some kind of delayed shock, as he probably wasn't quite ready to 'be a dad' thinking he had another three months.

If it was me, even if my wife was telling me to play (perhaps hoping I'd say no anyway), I just couldn't do it.

But as has been said, very harsh to 'judge' as everyone deals with these things differently. Thankfully, most of us will never know how we'd react in that situation.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I'm ABSOLUTELY not judging him. I'm saying that I couldn't play in that situation, and also that if I were Van Basten, I wouldn't let him play.

I think no better or worse of him personally for making this choice.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

If he does play, watch him get sent off after 17 minutes, because he's so wound up.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Whereabouts would he point if he scored in grief, like Frank Lampard does?

 

[che]

You can't say nothing about it when you have not been in the same situation before.
He is a mentally strong player.That he wants to stay with the team says all over the camaradi in the team.Think this makes the bond between them stronger.
I read today that they want to win this tournament for baby Anissa.

 

[Tooting Gull]

You can't say nothing about it when you have not been in the same situation before.
.

Well...I've never been stabbed by a machete-wielding maniac, but on balance it's probably against the law and it might hurt a tad.

 

[cardboard]

My daughter was born 3 months premature and i was in no sort of fit state to work.
I tried to go back after a week but was sent home.
I was at her bedside everyday until she came home (71 days)

 

[desprateseagull]

he really should be with his wife at a time like this- my head wouldnt be fully on the game, so soom after losing someone.