 After missing two matches, Van der Wiel returned to the starting lineup for the match against Slovakia in the round of 16 on 28 June 2010.After the match, Van der Wiel said that although he was concerned of receiving a second yellow card, he was unhappy with his performance, describing it as his "least match so far".Van der Wiel also started in the quarter-final against Brazil, which saw the Dutch win 2–1 to send them through to the semi-final for the first time since the 1998 World Cup.