Van der Vaart aims to make difference for Netherlands

Rafael van der Vaart says you need a mixture of experience and youth at the World Cup and the veteran midfielder can underscore his credentials to play in Brazil when the Netherlands take on Romania in a qualifier on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old Hamburg playmaker is not the first choice attacking midfielder for Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal, but with Wesley Sneijder out injured Van der Vaart is expected to play his 105th international match against third-place Romania in Group D.

Van der Vaart showed on Friday he can still influence the outcome of an international match when he came on for Sneijder and scored the opening goal against Estonia early in the second half of a match the Dutch went on to win 3-0.