Van der Vaart: "I'll have to live with the fact that I am not undisputed"

Thursday, 17 June 2010

Rafael van der Vaart ... misunderstood...

"I have to watch out to not tell a sad story here. I don't want to do that," says Rafael van der Vaart, who got a lot of criticism after Holland's bleak performance against Denmark (2-0). "I see that the criticism is focussing on me. When the whole team is performing below par, Rafael van der Vaart has done it. It makes you stronger, but it's frustrating. Ruud Gullit said on ESPN that Wesley Sneijder didn't play well because of me. That's too much, because against Hungary we played in exactly the same way and it worked out fine. It's insane that I am not allowed to play a bad game."

"I'll have to learn and live with the fact that I am not undisputed at Oranje," Van der Vaart says. "Fighting for your spot is part of it. But it's odd that - despite 79 caps - I still have to fight to be on the team, even though I have had a great season at Real Madrid. It just shows how much quality we have in the team."

That ongoing battle is the main plot line in Van der Vaart's career. "When you look at my entire career it's never been any different. At Ajax my last months were 'poor', then I fought back at Hamburg and earned a transfer to Madrid. In Spain it was tough in my first year, but the second was great. First I am supposed to go and now I must stay."

And so he believes he can only do one thing in South Africa: "Stay calm, because I know I am good enough. The people at home are very helpful in that."

The situation at the Dutch national team brings out the best in him. "Always walking on the tip of your toes makes me better. But sometimes I wonder: what else do I have to do? Behind the center forward, on the number 10 position, is still my favorite position. It's just that Wesley plays well there as well."

So it's not Van der Vaart thinks that the relentless stream of criticism has anything to do with the way he plays, but rather with very stiff competition.

"The people at home are very helpful"

"You either like my game, or you don't. I am not going to change that. I am 27. I have been playing professional football for 10 years and with Ajax, HSV and Real Madrid not at just any clubs. I have scored 135 goals as a midfielder. Statistics don't lie."

Yet the strong performance of substitute Eljero Elia didn't go unnoticed by Van der Vaart. He also knows Arjen Robben is on his way back But it doesn't bother him. "I am not thinking about a possible spot on the bench. When Robben comes back he will first have to earn himself a spot. Besides he played on the right for the past 18 months at Munich and Madrid."

But Van der Vaart can rest assured, at least for Saturday's game against Japan. Holland manager Bert van Marwijk has already hinted that he will play the same 11 players he fielded against Denmark.

If it turns out Van Marwijk will make changes later on in the tournament and Van der Vaart will end up on the bench it wouldn't make him happy. "Of course not, but things can change quickly. There's always injuries and suspensions in a tournament. I'll have to be ready for that then. But again: I am assuming I'll be playing."

"I haven't discussed it with Van Marwijk, but I want to play against Japan. And I assume I will, even though I think Eljero Elia played great against Denmark."

"But I came on very strong against Ghana, with an assist, a goal and a ball that hit the bar. This team has so much quality. When it gels we can waste any opponent. When - like against Denmark - you go 1-0 up and you can bring on a fast winger, the backs will not be smiling. And then you can play comfortably."

Van der Vaart doesn't agree with the theory that Holland should always have player like Robben or Elia on the team. "The midfielders did go wide a few times, but because of different circumstances it was hard to get through. So I went looking for the ball, to take the team by the hand. In the practice games we played it was all a bit more fluent because of the pitch. Now we always needed an extra effort to control the ball. We are football players, we need the ball at our feet. The few times we were able to set up a combination, we walked straight through. Just you watch: against Japan it will work out just fine."

The team didn't train on Wednesday, and it inspired Van der Vaart to a Cruyffian expression: "A day off is training as well..., training for the mind."