Ruud has got to score…

August 20th, 2007 | by: Jan | Comments(5)

Marco van Basten snubbed Van Nistelrooy last year because the striker didn’t participate good enough in the Dutch positioning play. Now he’s back, his task has changed: “Ruud needs to do what Ruud’s good at: score.”

The Dutch team manager could have saved himself, Ruud van Gol and many many fans a lot of heart ache by judging Van Nistelrooy on his specific skills. “Yeah, well..that’s what we think now,” was the Real Madrid striker’s reaction. “But I think the team manager wanted to use another player on my position and he is entitled to do so.”

Van Basten quickly changed his mind after his spat with Ruud and tried to get him back with some one on one talks. At first, Ruud didn’t feel the warmth, now the Man is back. “It wasn’t a hard decision. I followed the Dutch team on telly and every time I thought: that is my spot! I scored once in every two international games. That’s an ok average, isn’t it?” Van Nistelrooy scored 28 times in 54 caps.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Van Nistelrooij successor in some eyes, only scored in the first of his eight caps. Robin van Persie did succeed as center striker but is also very valuable on the flanks and coming from midfield. With Ruud van Gol back, it seems Dirk Kuyt is the second in command for the central position.

“No, that doesn’t make me sad,” the Liverpool declared after Oranje’s training. “It’s great to have Ruud back. He is one of the best and most prolific strikers in Europe. It’s not about Kuyt it’s about Oranje.”

Van Nistelrooy was happy with all the positive reactions from his team mates. “Yeah, it was fun to be back. Obviously, I knew most and I was only gone for a year, but it’s clear that this group has matured a lot. Many of the boys made the step to bigger clubs in bigger competitions. That says a lot about the qualities in this selection. I think we can achieve beautiful things. Look at the names that were even left out of the group.”

It seems that after three years of experimenting, Marco van Basten at long last found his new and successful team. With players like van Persie, Van der Vaart, Sneijder and the currently injured Ibrahim Affelay and Arjen Robben we have very skilled and pure football players but also a young group.
Van the Man does increase the average age of the team, with his 31 years.. “Ah, it’s much too early for me to throw the towel. I still have a lot of ambition. I want to perform with Oranje like I did with Real. And luckily the team manager also saw that I’m not over the hill yet. So, this Wednesday against Switzerland I intend to show everyone.”