"I don't know if it's worth naming Rafael van der Vaart at all." That's Jurgen Klopp, appearing as a pundit on German TV, deciding very publicly that it is absolutely worth naming Rafael van der Vaart.
The trigger was Van der Vaart's post-match verdict on Virgil van Dijk following the Netherlands' 2-2 draw with Japan — a result that rattled Ronald Koeman's squad and opened the floodgates for criticism. Van der Vaart, watching on Dutch television, took particular aim at the Liverpool captain's footwork near the final goal. "That turning... It was a bit of a Boeing 747," he said. "I hope he will run a little faster during the tournament."
Van Dijk, for the record, scored the opener and collected the man of the match award in that same game.
Klopp isn't letting it go
The Netherlands bounced back with a 5-1 demolition of Sweden — Brobbey and Gakpo both bagged braces — and the Japan debate should have been buried. But Klopp, now head of global soccer for Red Bull, used the Sweden broadcast to settle a score.
"If he ever says something positive about a player, I'm willing to take him seriously again," Klopp said on MagentaTV. "You have the feeling that he sees something, which then has to be expressed in a flowery way and then he goes against it. But it's not that important."
Saying something isn't important while going on television to say it is a very specific move. Klopp clearly still has skin in this game when it comes to his former captain.
Van der Vaart's week didn't get any cleaner either. He was forced to apologise separately after a comment that Japanese players "look alike" — which overshadowed whatever tactical point he was trying to make about Van Dijk's turning circle.
Van Dijk's hip is the real concern now
With the Sweden win secured, the more pressing issue is whether Van Dijk comes through in one piece. He took a heavy hit to the hip during the match and admitted he temporarily lost feeling in his upper leg. "I couldn't feel my upper leg anymore, so that was a little bit crazy," he told NOS. "But it was probably just a pinched nerve."
He was also beaten for pace by Anthony Elanga, who pulled one back for Graham Potter's Sweden side — so the pace questions Van der Vaart raised haven't entirely disappeared, even if the Boeing 747 framing was needlessly theatrical.
The Netherlands face Tunisia in Kansas City on Thursday in their final Group F game, with Van Dijk's fitness the main unknown heading in. If he's carrying something, that changes the calculus on how solid the Dutch backline actually is — and how much pressure the Brobbey-Gakpo attack will need to absorb.
