After having picked up a calf injury on his right leg, Rafael van der Vaart will miss out on the World Cup entirely.

  • By Adrian Bucher
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vdv oranjeHaving already skipped Monday’s training session with the Dutch team in their pre-World Cup camp in Portugal due to a fever, Rafael van der Vaart has been ruled out of this summer’s tournament in Brazil as a result of a calf injury sustained in training, as reported by the Royal Dutch Football Association.

Van der Vaart, 31, was hoping to make coach Louis van Gaal’s final 23-man squad, to be announced on Saturday, and participate in what would have been his third World Cup, having previously taken part in 2006, and 2010’s final defeat to Spain. Of van Gaal’s preliminary squad, the former Ajax man is the most capped player on the roster, featuring 109 times for the national team.

Though van der Vaart had been struggling for form of late with Bundesliga side Hamburger SV (having narrowly avoided relegation) this season, the Heemskerk-native had a fine qualifying campaign with the Oranje, scoring in each of the 5 matches he participated in.




Adrian Bucher (39 Posts)