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Rafael van der Vaart: no fear of Kaka!

June 11th, 2009 | By: Jan | 40 Comments »

All camera’s were zoomed in on goal scorer Arjen Robben, but further down on the pitch Rafael van der Vaart was the center of an intimate team hug. His tremendous pass leading to the 2-0 was highly valued by his team mates.

The joint demonstration of joy was about more than that pass. Van der Vaart of all people could use some warmth, in the week inwhich Kaka was signed for a container full of millions at Real Madrid. After one tough season at Real, the exit signs are painted for the midfielder, but the former Ajax star demonstrated his class in two Oranje games.

On the training pitch, the player acted more hungry than ever. With conviction he said a day before the Norway match that he’d fight for his spot in Madrid, even if the club would sign five Kaka’s and three Cristiano Ronaldo’s. “I’m not talking about leaving Madrid. That is simply not an option.”

He underlined those words wearing the Orange jersey. Like in the Iceland game, Van der Vaart was the creative hub in Oranje, right behind deep striker Dirk Kuyt. He justified Van Marwijk’s decision, who feels Van der Vaart is the ideal connection man between midfield and forwards.

The Icelanders didn’t have a clue how to play the former Hamburg skipper and the rugged Norwegians were played drunk by Raf at times. Hauger has the reputation in Norway of being a consistent and tough midfielder but he primarely looked forlorn. And while the rain thundered down onto the pitch, Van der Vaart saw solutions and openings which the spectators hadn’t even spotted. After more than half an hour he hit a free kick so hard and precise in Ooijer’s direction, he only had to nod yes and it was 1-0.

When Giovanni van Bronckhorst was replaced by Braafheid, Van der Vaart’s position became even stronger. He was the one who received the skippers’ band. A clear signal from Van Marwijk, who sees in Rafael a key player on the road to gold in 2010. Watching the game from the stands, Wesley Sneijder will most definitely have picked up on that as well.

In Iceland, Van der Vaart spoke about goosebump moments, when he enjoyed the quality of the game in the first half. Yesterday, it was hard for him not to smile when he tried to score from a set piece in the dying minutes of the game. And missed by a fraction.

The player who experienced so much negativity in Madrid stepped off the pitch with a big grin. “I’m going to enjoy my holiday. I could use a couple of days like these, you’ll understand that.”

Tags: Group C, Ooijer, Robben, Sneijder, van der Vaart, Van Marwijk

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 40 comments.

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By Jan | June 11th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

What an insanity. Real Madrid has a debt of 500mio!!! People can’t get loans to buy a car to get into the workforce and that IDIOT Perez is going to do it again. He’ll destroy the club and players’ reputation.

I would NEVER want to work there as a coach and I think Pellegrini – I think he’s good – will be sorry to have made the move.

Pellegrini wanted to sign Vaart earlier on and is clearly a fan.

You can’t buy a winning team. Look at history and look at the way successful teams are being put together (Sir Alex, Arsene, Van Gaal, Rijkaard/Guardiola)…

Although I do think that Kaka and Vaart aren’t comparable. Kaka is a striker in a 4-4-2, with speed and scoring skills, whereas Vaart/Sneijder are more playmakers on midfield.

Perez is really thick. A dangerous man.

I now hope ALL Dutchies leave the club and I hope they make a big loss on the players too. I lost all the respect I had for the club.

So, Ruud to Spurs.
Hunter to Arsenal
Vaart to Chelsea or Bayern.
Sneijder to Atletico
Robben to Man United
Drenthe back to Feyenoord

By Mario | June 11th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Jan, I like your transfers. Good moves man!

About Oranje…what a great TEAM.It is almost the same team that played at the EC but now they seem more as a real team. They are playing great, understanding each other and being very dangerour.

The formation with two holding midfielders and four offensive guys in front on them has workes really well…van Marwijk will not change that formation and now it´s up to the players to convince him to earn their spot in the team.

By Carlos | June 11th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

Jan – Cruijff came up with another classic comment. He ventured into Holland playing “minnows” and how often we had difficulties against minnows such as luxemburg, belarus etc.
” Holland now has the ability to show why these minnows ARE called minnows” Unlike Portugal v Albania -Italy v New Zealand.

Posted from Singapore

By Mario | June 11th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

Guys:

I was checking Holland´s line up vs. Norway and I found that many of the starters played against Portugal in the World Cup 2006. That shows the stability that this group has nowadays.

Ooijer, Gio, Mathijsen, van Bommel, Robben, van Persie, Kuyt…all of them played in the last World Cup game Holland was involved. Although van Bommel then quit the team because of his problems with van Basten there you have six players who have been playing together for many years now. And then you have Sneijder too and other guys who know each other perfectly like Babel, Boulahrouz, Huntelaar,de Jong, etc.

I have a prediction in one years time for the World Cup. The champion will be one of these nations:

A)Holland
B)Spain
C)England
D)Germany
E)Brazil

I am not ranking them, I am just naming the teams I see with more potential, experiencie, mental strenght and team work to win a World Cup. Holland and Spain are in a spectacular moment now, England has a good team and Cappello is a winner(7 wins in 7 qual. games). And then you have Germany and Spain who always go very far and know perfectly what this tournament is about. Argentina and Italy are very strong teams but I don´t see them now capable of lifting the trophy although they have to be considered potential winners too because of their background.

And if I have to choose one team to go for gold and lift the cup…well, you know which team I´ll pick!!!

By Carlos | June 11th, 2009 at 10:46 pm

Mario – don’t forget it’s still EXACTLY one year away. Lots of things can happen.
Spain has NEVER done well in WCs
Italy always manages to get to the last 4.
Argentina has an incredible team that is struggling now but can click just at the right time.
As usual I pick these countries as our biggest threat.
1.Brazil
2.Argentina
3.Italy
4.Spain
5.Germany

Forget England/France/Potusuks

Dark Horse – Denmark
Hope to make it – Scotland/Hungary

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | June 11th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

Portusuks

Posted from Singapore

By Miguel Rosado | June 11th, 2009 at 10:59 pm

I had never seen VdV so involved in Holland’s games. Van Maarwijk gives him a lot of freedom and that’s helping a lot!!!, I’m looking forward to see what Bert will do when Sneijder gets back from injury because VdV did great!!!.

I like how we are playing because our midfielders link with the forwards very well and also attack although there’s a lot of room for improvement. Van Maarwijk knows his starting line up and he doesn’t do experiments which is great!!! if he keeps doing the same we will have a team and not a bunch of individual talents.

By Miguel Rosado | June 11th, 2009 at 11:11 pm

This quilifying group was no match for the Netherlands. We face England on August 12th and that will be a good game.

By Oranje_For_Life | June 12th, 2009 at 12:05 am

I was very excited when Real signed many Dutch players. However, I was very disappointed at how incompetent that dumb ass Ramos was. I was very resentful with his decision to bench VDV and played Fernando Gago instead. WHO THE FCK is GAGO? That dude lost the ball almost everytime he had a chance.

I very much agree with Jan on the transfer possibilities. The Dutch players NEED to move out of Real. REMEMBER, the mentality of Real fans is that Real’ style is not compatible with Dutch players.

ONE last thing, I’ve been lurking around here for quite a while and read many comments. Many Oranje fans seem to look at VDV and Sneijder as separate entities and incompatible to cooperate with each other? I wonder why do you guys think so. I believe that VDV and Sneijder can work perfectly well with each other, oh how beautiful Oranje would plays.

Posted from United States

By Mario | June 12th, 2009 at 12:39 am

I know Carlos and I see your point. But that´s my shot buddy. Although in a year as you say, many things can happen.

Real Madrid is going to be fun to watch but I don´t think there is much room for the Dutch guys. They´d better start looking another club unless the new coach really requires the services of a specific Dutch player. I am only thinking in Robben as a candidate to stay…great attack: Kaká, Robben, Ronaldo and perhaps Villa or even Zlatan. Raúl???. This guy should be axed but he is Madrid´s hero although he sucks now! He and Guti are done but I don´t know why the board has kept them…

By Tiju | June 12th, 2009 at 1:29 am

@carlos your practical mind is too good.Clearly brazil,arjentina,germany and italy and the new look spain are the contenders.not because of their outstanding display but because of their luck,balence,experience.
I am not pessimistic but i cannt see a dutch victory with players like ooiger,gio,heitinga,Ruud,to some extend Roban etc.if we pick the right team for each an every match then we will make it.

Posted from India

By Tiju | June 12th, 2009 at 1:54 am

No fear of kaka.but fear of perez thats correct.
Except Roban al players should fly away from madrid.

Posted from India

By Tiju | June 12th, 2009 at 2:09 am

Out of topic and irrelavant.
I am working in health care industry.so i should think about this also.
I know the prevalence of HIV in the whole world.
next world cup is in SA and 28% of the peoples are affted by HIV in that country.Footballers and their fans are well known for their desire for woman.SO after SA2010 so many HIV to Europe?????????????????????.

Posted from India

By Jeroen | June 12th, 2009 at 2:28 am

28% seems a bit high, I think it’s around 20% last time I heard. But it is definitely a lot, I think the top 5 nations in the world in HIV prevalence are all in that region. There are many difficulties they never had before with organizing this WC. I think it’s good it’s being held there though, because for this to be truly a global event, it should be able to take place anywhere (within reasonable limits).
My main concern is fan security. A lot of the hotels the fans will have to stay in are in lesser parts of town. Combine this with the stories I’ve heard about Joburg from my South African friends and it seems like quite a lot of trouble might occur. Especially if the English are around to catalyze the situation.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tiju | June 12th, 2009 at 2:42 am

@jeroen i think we need to pray on this subject.it was above 28 in prveious year but nowadays they are getting controll over it.that is a good news.heard that SA is famous for robery and other things.i think english fans will catalyse it.so i expect a good amount of newly HIV aftected persons in minimum 32 countries.HIV is already pandemic and after this SA it is going to be more dense.
chcek it with wikipedia.

Posted from India

By Jan | June 12th, 2009 at 3:13 am

Carlos, JC has seen it well. Nijnatten wrote a good column which I published just now.

I will also put out an article on the risks of SA…

Too bad that stuff always comes into play, but yeah…

In a way, the shit happening at Real might really extra motivate our lads to show the world Madrid is stupid!

As for Sneijder and Vaart in one team: they’ve done it before successfully. At ajax and at Oranje, so I would love to put this debate to rest.

They are both sooo good and such good mates that they will easily be able to play together.

If I were Bert, I’d want to play Vaart, Robben, Sneijder, Van Persie ALWAYS!

And I’d play around with Hunter, Kuyt, Van Bommel, De Jong for that.

But I am not Bert! I am Jan.

But he might want to trade places with me, who knows…?

By Tiju | June 12th, 2009 at 4:37 am

@jan best wishes

Posted from India

By Caleb | June 12th, 2009 at 9:31 am

@Tiju – what is with your new war against Ruud? Seems you really have it out for him lately and I can’t understand why.

Posted from Canada

By Miguel Rosado | June 12th, 2009 at 9:44 am

- I think Sneijder and VdV will stay because they have big egos and won’t leave the club by the back door.
- Huntelaar will stay, he did well for a short period this year but Ramos benched him.
- Robben will stay. He is the most likely to have success.
- Nistelrooy will stay. He wants to demonstrate he still has some game in his boots yet. When Ruud is determined nobody can stop him!!!.
- Drenthe, on loan.

By ferenc | June 12th, 2009 at 11:02 am

i think perez doesn’t want them and in this case there is no reason to stay there. why huntelaar should stay? for sitting on the bench and being starter in the copa del rey? they will have villa,higuain,raul,kaka can play striker – it means there are four player and huntelaar would be the fifth in perez’ hierarchy. not too much chance for first team football. same with rvn and don’t forget that he has been injured for 8-9 months. we don’t know how will he play after. he’s already 33. tottenham would be great for him.
i don’t buy that vdv and sneijder will stay because of their big egos. they want to play first team football and they won’t at real.
one more thing – perez thinks that the dutch players are the symbols of the “ancien regime”. he doesn’t want any continuity and pshicologically it’s very easy to blame 6 players of the same nation.
robben might be the only one who will stay. but i’m not sore that even him would be in perez’ optimal starting eleven. drenthe doesn’t count because he was overrated,he’s not as talented as we thought 2 years ago.
sorry Miguel but it seems that you still would like our guys to stay there. believe me it wouldn’t be good for oranje at all. these guys want to be at the wc and they know that their chance is to play regular first team football.
sad story but i didn’t appreciate the signings of dutch players at real. i remember what happened at barca,however it was a different story. real supporters don’t appreciate dutch football barca fans do – because of the traditions,johan cruijff,neeskens,koeman,kluivert,cocu,rijkaard. dutch football culture and philosophy don’t correspond to madrid’s philisophy and culture. real don’t have any dutch tradition,only clarence seedorf succeeded there (on international level).
i want to see a competitive oranje and not frustrated men at the wc. just remember ruud 3 years ago at the wc 2006 wasn’t at this best. for 2 reasons,and only one was marco. the other and most important was his problems at manu. we don’t need this. we need players who are appreciated at their clubs and in one year can only concentrate on the world cup. real madrid is not the good place for that – and i don’t want to mention that even with their new signings they won’t be champions,and they will be eliminated in the 1/8 final in the cl.

Posted from Hungary

By Sol | June 12th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

I’d like them to try out 4-4-2 at Real:

——Huntelaar-Kaka——
Ronaldo-Sneijder-vdVaart-Robben
and then whatever they want behind that.

But that will never happen if they also get Villa and/or Ribery. It probably won’t even happen at all with Higuain and Raúl still there.

Posted from Netherlands

By Miguel Rosado | June 12th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

ferenc, I don’t want them to stay at Madrid but that’s what I think will happen.

I just want Ruud, Sneijder and Robben to stay.

By Oranje_For_Life | June 12th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

David Villa is confirmed that he’s not going to Madrid. Valencia will not sell him. Clubs around the world are getting a bit tippy with Real’ spending haha.

Posted from United States

By dirk v.d.Berg | June 12th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

im thinking that given the coachs formation he used for Villareal it will be more like

——-keeper and back four————–
——–sneijder—–gago————–
robben————————ronaldo
—————kaka——————
————huntelaar—————

Posted from Canada

By Sol | June 14th, 2009 at 4:49 pm

crazy line-up:

——-keeper and back three————–
—vdVaart—kaka–sneijder—
robben——————————ronaldo
—————higauin——————
————huntelaar—————

I’d just like to see it on the field one day to see what will happen.
With this line-up vdVaart and Sneijder will have to function both as defensive midfielder as well as offensive. Kaka has free roaming on the midfield and forward. It’s a little crazy.

Posted from Netherlands

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