Dutch Football - Spain - Primera Division - Heitinga & Van der Vaart in Horror squad

"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

Heitinga & Van der Vaart in Horror Team

Wednesday 21 January 2009

Rafael van der Vaart and John Heitinga have so far been anything but impressive in the Primera División.

Both Oranje-internationals have been picked for the so-called Horror Team.

Spanish sports daily Marca published a team of players who - according to the paper - have been a nightmare in the first half of the season in the Primera División.

They were either invisible or did not live up to the expectations, the Madrid based paper writes.

But the editors do spur the players to take revenge in the second half of the season.

Van der Vaart and Heitinga have earned themselves a place in the squad where they are accompanied by Martín Cáceres (Barcelona), Carlos Kameni (Espanyol) and Marcelo (Real Madrid).

"The family picture in Bernabéu was pretty and he followed it up with some nice efforts," the jury's report said about Van der Vaart.

"But he hasn't showed much since, his specialty free kicks included."

The verdict on Heitinga was a lot more critical.

"Arriving from Ajax he turned out to be a disaster. In-between all free-kicks and penalties he caused, the fans are wondering if perhaps it's his brother playing for Atletico."