World Cup 2010: Rafael van der Vaart expected to start for Netherlands against Denmark

Bert van Marwijk will probably hand midfielder starting berth...

11 Jun 2010 15:51:00

By Stefan Coerts

More On :  Denmark, Netherlands, Rafael van der Vaart, Netherlands vs Denmark
Rafael van der Vaart, Netherlands (PROSHOTS)
Gifted Real Madrid playmaker Rafael van der Vaart is likely to be part of Group E favourites Netherlands' starting XI for their World Cup opener against Denmark on Monday.
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National team coach Bert van Marwijk will have to make do without the services of the injured Arjen Robben against Denmark and, based on Friday's training session, Van der Vaart will replace the Bayern Munich star on the left wing, with Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt operating down the right.

Eljero Elia, Ryan Babel and Ibrahim Afellay were all hopeful of making the starting XI as well as left winger, but the trio appear to have missed out on a starting berth in Oranje's World Cup opener.

After training, Van Marwijk was asked about the line-up for the Denmark game, responding, "You all have seen the training."

The Dutch, who have an 80 per cent chance of progressing to the knockout rounds according to Castrol Football's extensive analysis, are expected to line up in the following 4-2-3-1 formation on Friday:

Stekelenburg

Van der Wiel - Heitinga - Mathijsen - Van Bronckhorst

De Jong - Van Bommel

Kuyt - Sneijder - Van der Vaart

Van Persie

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With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

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19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
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