Bert van Marwijk, the Netherlands coach, admits his plans for today's World Cup qualifier against Iceland have been thrown into disarray following an injury crisis.

Bert van Marwijk, the Netherlands coach, admits his plans for today's World Cup qualifier against Iceland have been thrown into disarray following an injury crisis.

With first-choice goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg of Ajax out injured, Van Marwijk issued an SOS to Edwin Van der Sar, the Manchester United goalkeeper who retired from international football after Euro 2008. The 37-year-old, who has 128 international caps, will start against Iceland and also against Norway on Wednesday.

Van Marwijk plan's were further disrupted when Arsenal's Robin van Persie withdrew with a hamstring injury in midweek, adding to the absence of Arjen Robben, Celtic's Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Atletico Madrid's John Heitinga.

The manager will hope his side can consolidate their position at the top of Group 9 after opening their campaign with a 2-1 victory in Macedonia last month, but admitted the injuries have affected his plans. "I had a general idea of how we want to do it, but on Monday morning there were some surprises," the coach said earlier this week. "This week, we seemed to be out of luck more than usual. Until Tuesday, I hoped everybody would be fit."

But Van Marwijk acknowledged he is not in a unique position, with injuries frequent all over Europe due to a congested fixture list at club and international level.

"Oranje is not the only team that has to deal with injuries, all the clubs have to deal with it," he said. "We have discussed it with the technical staff and came to a logical conclusion. Almost everyone has played during Euro 2008 and with their clubs players have to play on three or four different levels.

"Almost everyone is still competing for the various cups and in one of the European tournaments. Add the competition and international matches to that and you have a lot of matches in a short period of time."

However, Dutch prospects could be boosted by the return from injury of Wesley Sneijder.

The midfielder returned for Real Madrid last weekend after a two-month absence and hopes to be available.

Although Sneijder is unlikely to start the game, Van Marwijk reported there would be no objections from Real if the midfielder features from the bench. "This week, Valter di Salvo, physiologist of Real Madrid, visited us and he saw Wesley was doing well," Van Marwijk said. "We talked about it and he said Real has no problem if Sneijder plays for us."

Iceland, who have never qualified for a major tournament, are ranked 103rd in the world and have claimed one point from their two fixtures. Coach Olafur Johannesson will be relying again on the forward prowess of Barcelona's Eidur Gudjonsson, who has scored in each of his last two games for his country and twice in Primera Liga for the Catalan side this season.