Injury Update - Van der Vaart Out

Update - May 28: Van der Vaart will not be considered for the World Cup due to his injury. KNVB website has announced that coach Louis van Gaal decided to exclude the midfielder from the possible 23-man squad which is due to be announced this Saturday. The 31-year old backup playmaker is the most experienced of the Netherlands squad

May 27:
Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has suffered a calf injury during training at the camp in Portugal. He's struggling to be fit before the planned announcement of the final squad by coach Louis van Gaal, expected to be out on Saturday

Van der Vaart is considered to be backing up the Netherlands playmaker Wesley Sneijder in the Dutch midfield. His season with his Hamburger SV club was already shadowed by fitness and form struggles after he suffered an ankle injury in the second half of the season. With Georginio Wijnaldum fighting for his place in the squad, the midfielder's injury couldn't have come at a worse time

Manchester United transfer target Kevin Strootman was already ruled out of the World Cup due to a knee injury but Netherland's midfield is not the only headache Louis van Gaal is encountering. Two right backs have injury issues, Paul Verhaegh is down with ankle problems and Daryl Janmaat just recovered from the same after a week's layoff