Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has no regrets missing Holland's run to the World Cup final.
Van der Sar stood down from Holland duty after Euro 2008 to concentrate on United, but reached a record 130 caps when he came out of retirement for two World Cup qualifiers and then turned down a late invitation from coach Bert van Marwijk to be part of his squad in South Africa.
Asked if he had any regrets, the former Ajax, Juventus and Fulham keeper told the Daily Mail: "No. Of course when you reach the final you always think "Hmmm". But I made the decision two years ago and, at a certain point, enough is enough.
"It was agony watching, of course. That's three finals now, three times in a row losing. And it would be finally nice to finally get that star on our shirts, for Holland. But unfortunately it wasn't to happen.
"I saw a couple of headlines and I thought they were a bit too harsh on Holland. It was a hard game, but listen, it's a tough team to play against, and you have to do everything in your power to win a game. Yeah, you'd rather do it if it's nice football, but if it's ugly football then so be it."
