Holland became the first European country to book a place in the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa when they squeezed a 2:1 win out of Iceland yesterday. The win allowed Real Madrid talented midfielder Rafael van der Vaart (pictured) to put an end to his miserable 2-month spell of appalling form.

Van der Vaart lost his place in the first team at Real and has been unable to earn more than 6 rating points in 9 games in a row. He even lost points in three of those games. The win in Iceland allowed the midfielder to pick up 20.28 rating points and return in the Top 23 of Dutch players with 56.91 points over all.

Van der Vaart now ranks 7th in the rating of Dutch midfielders, which is led by Bayern Munich’s Mark van Bommel. Van Bommel scored the winner against Iceland and earned 12.53 rating points to boost his tally to 138.05 points over all.