The beginning of Rafael van der Vaart’s international football career.

Rafael van der Vaart made his international football debut against Andorra on October sixth 2001 at the age of 18. Van der Vaart played a prominently part in a number of qualifying matches. Van der Vaart was a member of the Dutch team in the Euro 2004 football tournament and also the 2006 World Cup. Van der Vaart was out of luck when it came to the final tournament, he did not play much in the tournament.

Euro 2004

The Dutch did not play well during the opening game of Euro 2004, and that fact persuaded the coach to change formation into one which did not include van der Vaart to play. Van der Vaart was reduced to play a bit-part role at Euro 2004 in spite of his big talent.
The next season in the Bundesliga van der Vaart produced some superlative performances, and it seemed that Rafael van der Vaart was finally going to shine on the big stage at the 2006 World Cup.

The 2006 World Cup.

In the opening match in the 2006 World Cup for the Dutch van der Vaart was suffering injury problems, and the Dutch Coach Marco van Basten would not risk van der Vaart. The team won the opening match and the Dutch National team coach decided once again to continue fielding a van der Vaart-less line-up, and Rafael van der Vaart was once again reduced to bit-part role in the
squad.