Dutch central defender Joris Mathijsen(Malaga) is ruled out for the match against Denmark coming Saturday. The Dutchman got a hamstring injury in the friendly against Bulgaria almost two weeks ago. At first he seemed to recover fast but in recent days there was no progression and his doctors ruled him out for the first match on the EC and is still uncertain for the rest of the tournament. Bert van Marwijk is set to call up a new CD for the squad. There is however a small problem. The Netherlands does not have a spare central defender. All youngsters at best. Stefan De Vrij, Nick Viergever, Hedwiges Maduro have been called up in the past and seem the most likely replacements for Mathijsen. Defender troubles The Dutch have more and more trouble in their defense in recent months. It is seen as the weak spot of the team and a long disabled list isn't doing them any good. Erik Pieters, the #1 RB of the team has a foot injury(his second this year) and has only played for a few months this season. Hedwiges Maduro was injured as well most of the season and was dropped out of the selection after only 3 days in training camp. Now Joris Mathijsen could be out for the entire summer. The injuries might seem the biggest problem for the Dutch but a much larger problem lurks for the Orange squad. The Netherlands hasn't produced a solid, skilled, rough defender since Jaap Stam and Frank de Boer. Current central defenders(Heitinga, Mathijsen, Vlaar) aren't rated as top class defenders. Midfielders and attackers are a plenty, but Dutch defenders are rare. Very rare. And if it couldn't get any worse, the youth hasn't delivered either. After Vlaar(27y old) comes Jeffrey Bruma and Stefan De Vrij, both is 20 years old. Which means the Dutch youth academy's didn't produce a central defender for the national squad for seven years straight, on age. So with the exit of Mathijsen the Dutch might be in serious trouble for this EC, and maybe for the World cup in Brazil in 2014. The Dutch have structural problems forming a solid defense. And it might even be a signal for the team that dark times are ahead.