De Jong sadness at missing semi-final

Holland and Manchester City midfielder Nigel De Jong has spoken of his sadness at missing the World Cup semi-final against Urgugay and urged his team to do all they can to avoid the third-place play-off.

De Jong picked up his second yellow card of the tournament in their quarter-final win over Brazil for pulling Robinho, so is out of the biggest match of his life.

Fellow Dutchman Gregory van der Wiel also misses the game for the same reason.

“It’s sad to miss the semi-final. Of course I wanted to play every game, especially a semi-final. That’s a very important game,” 25-year-old De Jong told his club website.

“I am so disappointed. Of course I knew that I could get a yellow card, but it was my first foul in the game. I knew the referee was very eager to give a yellow or red card, but there was nothing I could do.”

He has told his teammates he desperately wants to have a chance of playing in the final against either Germany or Spain.

“I told them in the dressing room they’d have to pull their socks up as I was not going to miss the semi-final only to end up playing in the match for third place.”