a penalty to Cameroon by blocking the ball with his arm from a free-kick. However, he made another appearance in the semi-final against Uruguay, after coming on for the injured Demy de Zeeuw. He helped Oranje win the match with 3–2, thus sending them to the final. He also played in the final against Spain, substituting Nigel de Jong just before injury time. Netherlands lost the game 1–0 to a goal from Andrés Iniesta. He was handed the captain's armband during the match, after Giovanni van Bronckhorst was substituted off. Euro 2012 Van der Vaart made his Euro 2012 debut as a sub in the first match against Denmark – a match they went on to lose. In the second match against Germany, again he was a substitute, but came on for Dutch captain Mark van Bommel and took the captain's armband. In the second half he created more attacking chances, which led to a goal, but they again lost the match. In the final group match against Portugal, Van der Vaart started as captain, and scored a goal that gave the Netherlands a glimmer of hope to get out of the group. However, two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal a 2–1 win and knocked out the Netherlands. 2014 World Cup Van der Vaart was named in Louis van Gaal's provisional 30-man squad for the 2014 World Cup, but withdrew on 28 May, three days before the final squad was named, due to a calf injury that he suffered in training. Personal life On 10 June 2005, Van der Vaart married Sylvie Meis and on 28 May 2006, their son Damián Rafael was born. Some of the media have described the couple as the "new Beckhams" but both of them denied the claims saying that they prefer to just live a normal life. In the summer of 2009, Real Madrid wanted to sell Van der Vaart, but the player decided to stay in Madrid because his wife was undergoing cancer treatment there. A year later, upon his move to England, Van der Vaart stated, "She had a very serious illness and it is true that she had to be treated at the Clinica Quiron. Last season, they wanted me to leave but I couldn't leave for that reason. Now she is well and the only thing that happened was that Madrid wanted to sell and I wanted to get