Van der Vaart Criticizes Dutch team’s Excessive Dribbling Against Malta
Published: october 17, 2023
Rafael van der Vaart, a former Dutch international with 109 caps, has voiced his frustration with the Netherlands‘ performance against Malta. the former playmaker specifically criticized the team’s tendency to attempt individual dribbling plays, even after taking an early lead.
“You take the lead very quickly, but you just don’t push through. That is not the first time. I find that a bit strange.furthermore, you can say that they are super sloppy,”
The criticism stemmed, in part, from an early error by captain Virgil van Dijk, whose misplaced back pass nearly resulted in a goal for Malta. Former player Van Hooijdonk observed that Van Dijk appeared to lack sufficient awareness of his surroundings. “Then you promptly get away well and that was actually the trend of the first half. against Malta, which is a toddler in terms of football, they have been in the box quite often. That surprises me,” he stated.
Van der Vaart expressed his disappointment that the team didn’t capitalize on their early advantage. “When you get such a fast penalty, you should actually turn it into a football party,” he said. However, he was notably struck by the players’ insistence on dribbling.
“What really strikes me is that they all start dribbling with the ball.All of them… Against such a compact opponent, you won’t get anywhere with such a dribble. What is this?!” Van der Vaart exclaimed, clearly exasperated. He believes a simpler approach would have yielded far more positive results.
Concluding his assessment, Van der Vaart stated, “If you tell everyone to hit a maximum of two hits, you will win 0-8.But everyone wants to do something special. That is just very stupid.”
Further Reading
For more on the match and reactions, visit NOS.
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