Van der Wiel with Dutch fans.
Van der Wiel has been capped at the under-21 level and participated at the 2007 Toulon Tournament. He made his senior debut for the Netherlands on February 11, 2009, coming on as a substitute for former Ajax teammate John Heitinga in the friendly game against Tunisia.[14] He made his first competitive debut on March 28, 2009, being in the starting lineup for the 3–0 2010 World Cup qualification victory over Scotland.[15] He again played the whole match for the 4–0 World Cup qualification victory over Macedonia on April 1, 2009.[16] Since them he has established himself as the first choice right-back in the Dutch squad.
[edit]Twitter incident
In October 2009, Van der Wiel became embroiled in a controversy after he was unable to travel with the Dutch squad to Australia for a friendly game due to a concussion obtained while playing for Ajax. The player went to a Lil' Wayne concert while his Dutch teammates were in Australia and posted a picture of himself with the rapper on his Twitter page.[17] Several prominent figures in Dutch football criticised the player for his actions, including Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk who stated "It's rather strange that he was able to go to a concert, given that he told me that he was not allowed to fly by the Ajax medical staff."[18] Ajax manager Martin Jol defended the player, stating that the incident was blown out of proportion by the media and that it should not be seen as a lack of respect on the part of the player for the Dutch national team.[18] Van Marwijk has since forgiven Van der Wiel for the incident, stating that "he should not expect that this incident will have consequences for his place in the team".[19]
[edit]2010 World Cup
Van der Wiel was included in the preliminary squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[20] On 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk announced that the player would be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the competition.[21] The player was in the starting line-up for their first two matches in the competition, 2-0 victory over Denmark and 1-0 victory over Japan.[22]作者: pighead 时间: 2010-6-24 21:52:13