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Ruud van Nistelrooy speaks his mind

June 27th, 2006 | By: Jan | 29 Comments »

“My relationship with Marco van Basten is a difficult one at the moment, yes. I am not sure how that will proceed,” confessed Ruud after returning home. “ But I will never pull away from international football. It is an hnour to play for Holland, and I will never retire myself.”

He was the most motivated player to report to the Dutch team in May. He wanted to show the world (and Sir Alex) that he could still play football and score goals. And, with 29 years old, this was his first WC. His start against Serbia & Montenegro was tough, he did score against Ivory Coast but reaped public criticism from van Basten and ended the WC on the bench.

The sub role was loudly announced in the foreign media. In most countries, the quality if the Dutch team is the quality and reputation of Ruud van Nistelrooy. Saying to international football fans that Holland has a striker – playing in the Dutch league – who is better than Ruud will result in snubs. And Van Nistelrooy agrees!

The entry-point to the offense, as he calls it, is a role that fits him well. “Kluivert was king, in that role. There will never be a better player in that role. But, although I’m not as good as Kluivert, I am still better than all other options.”

The ManU striker – who will most likely resume his career elsewhere – confirmed that he had heated discussions with Van Basten for the Portugal game about his role on the bench. “It was about football and I spoke from my heart. I don’t want to talk about it now, it’s too late now, but…I can not understand it, still.”

“Van Basten can’t be surprised with how I play. He knows me. He knows my weaknesses. I play the way I play. It’s the only thing I can do. If you play me, you’ll get my weaknesses as well. It’s either playing me and accept my weaknesses with it, or not playing me at all. You know what you get. I am not a questionark. I wasn’t for the WC and I ain’t now.”

Ruud couldn’t stant the time on the bench in Neurenberg. “What can I say? We needed a goal. I know I can score one.”

And thus, the Dutch WC campaign ended in deception.

And while Van Nistelrooy will concentrate on finding a new club, it will also become crowded in Oranje. Kuyt already passed him in the hierarchy, Klaas Jan Huntelaar is already knocking on the door.

But Ruud wants to go on. “You know, I feel very committed to this team. Involved. After my discussions with van Basten, the guys were there for me. That was important for me. I’ll never say no to Oranje.”

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 29 comments.

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By owen | June 27th, 2006 at 7:01 pm

I don’t like ruud at all and I still can’t believe he didn’t come on in that game – sure he can’t play beautiful football but he can get a ball on the edge of the box and get a shot in – it is that shot part that is critical. Fortunately for all the oranje, England will get you some revenge

Posted from United States

By ferenc | June 27th, 2006 at 7:02 pm

cruijff’s comment is stupid,because van persie was the cest dutch player…

i know that seedorf ubderqchieved in zje national team,but marco shoukd have try him. i prefer a moviestar to mediocre players (for ex. landzaat). davids did lots for the oranje and he’s got a spirit,he’s a winner,and in this kind of game he’s very useful with his charisme. or he’s the first one to be sent off… u never know.

marco should be more diplomatic with players,could handle more intelligently problems,and i don’t know – oranje was always my favourite national team and will be,but i’m very sad – and this time i didn’t see anything why i love dutch football. it was more catenaccio than total football…

Posted from Hungary

By goose | June 27th, 2006 at 7:56 pm

yes, the quality was just not there….

Posted from Netherlands

By Steven | June 27th, 2006 at 8:46 pm

Very, very dissapointing. I looked for great things from the Oranje this go around, remembering how well their run was in Euro 2004, especially Robben’s. I watched the match twice, just to make sure I wasn’t deceiving myself. There was van Basten, standing like a deer caught in headlights, while Big Phil was working both his players and the refs from his side of the touchline. Robben made his runs, but there was no holding forward for him to pass to. As I recall from watching the EPL, Ruud excels at that role. What MvB was thinking is an utter mystery. The shame is that the great fans of the Oranje (who I once saw fly to Godforsaken Moldova for a WC qualifier!) have to suffer.

Posted from United States

By goose | June 27th, 2006 at 9:54 pm

he my fellow Holland fans, hope all is well..
theres something wich i need to adres:

im getting real fed up with the dutch fans at Holland matches (esp. at EC or WC), they all dress up like idiots, dressed as farmergirls, with a hat of carrots etc. etc. BUT where were day on sunday???? Didnt hear them at all…
i my days(when i was a regular when we played at home) there was nothing like it, there were sections with supporters from Amsterdam,Rotterdam,Den Haag, real supporters who visited a footballground every week, then some idiot dropped a bomb against Cyprus in ‘88, we won the EC and this crazy dressing up started,think its crazy

dont get my wrong, i love the fact that here in Holland there are(were) complete streets covered in orange, i dont mind people wearing orange, but it looks like the people who visit a game this WC are more interested in looking crazy and foolish(and getting on tv) than support their team with sound and songs

dont know if you guys know what i mean…???

greetz

WIJ HOUDEN VAN ORANJE

Posted from Netherlands

By richard | June 27th, 2006 at 11:24 pm

Is it possible to play both Van Nistelrooy AND Kuyt? What if Kuyt played as more of an attacking midfielder, behind RVN–getting them both on the pitch at the same time. The Dutch need a more physical presence in the midfield–which is what Davids gave them–and Kuyt is a physical player who is very fit. Van der Vaart seemed to struggle–just not fit after the injuries–and I didn’t get enuf sense of Scneider, tho he seems to have potential. But there was not a lot of high quality in the midfield in the attacking end. Brutal loss to Portugal, but here’s hoping the team will get better. After all the talk about youth, the old but star-studded French squad just whipped Spain. All my teams are dropping!

Posted from United States

By goose | June 28th, 2006 at 5:06 am

@alaa, you say you LOVED this team, are you no Holland supporter anymore??

i know a lot of people have respect for us dutch cause the way we play are football (most of the time) but the quality for dominating,attacking football was just not there (for wathever reason),
remember some of us cant choose this team, for us its just our team cause we’re dutch and i will love them till i die!!! Hope you still support us next time around, i understand your dissapointment..

@Frank, again agree with you 100% my dear neighbour..
want to say this: if your team beats Arg. ill give you a MEA CULPA on my comments about your team,
will be very interesting to see how your team will play when they get their first real opposition, nervous??

@all, remember my friends, you need quality in your team to play the football we all love to see, if the quality is not there theres nothing left but to play for a result…

greetz

WIJ HOUDEN VAN ORANJE

Posted from Netherlands

By alaa | June 28th, 2006 at 5:32 am

@richard
man let me tell you this.
kuyt doesn’t deserve to be included in this team.
it is a realllll shame that makaay was not included in the team and kuyt was in the starting line up. that is really stupid of van basten.
we had many chnaces against portugal and kuyt just didn’t have a clue what to do. he is a mediocre player. he doesn’t deserve to be included while we have roy makaay out.
van basten has got a serious problem in his head.

Posted from United States

By Fares | June 28th, 2006 at 6:33 am

I agree that Kuyt is not that great, but those chances that he had is because was positioning himself well. If RVN was there. maybe he would have not been in these positions.

If RVN played and Holland lost, we would have said, we needed Makaay or else.

Kuyt was included cause he can play on the wings and in the Centra. MVB tried to save a positions by including someone who can play both.

I think Landazaat is not bad he listens well. U can’t have world class players and sit on them on the bench. We wanna have good mix ..we had a good mix and Holland did well. it was just a game that descided by a goal. we cant say that we failed cause we lost … yes Holland faild to win the WC but did not fail to improve.

Same u cant say Spain failed, they played pretty well .. but failed to go further. I can’t say that England did better than Holland, cause they sucked so far.

Posted from United States

By ayl18 | June 28th, 2006 at 7:15 am

I have followed the Oranje all my life (i’m only 19) but i have still watched many pre-1987 games and i am severely dissaopinted at how the Dutch have played in the WC and the WC qualifying. They have begun to become very results-orientated, and, though this is fine, it has come at the price of playing the beautiful football for whih the Dutch are renowned. MvB seems to have brought too much of an adopted Italian style of football which he had picked up at Milan. The team lacks creativity, attacking flair and almost anything else that you can imagine.

MvB should continue to focus on results but should not neglect playing the type of football which wowed the world and won over so many admirers.

In my opinion, i would rather the Dutch shock the world with their amazing football and not go as far inthe WC, than playing a bland style of football making us no different to any other nation in th WC and going further…. but i’m sure that a balance can be struck between good results and beautiful football.

Posted from Australia

By alaa | June 28th, 2006 at 7:32 am

@ayl18
i totally agree with you man.
we loved this team because it has a very attractive style and it is always different from the other 31 teams in the wc and different from the other 15 teams in euro.
with van basten we looked like the italian team, but the first games we won them so we said ok lets this time not to play well and win. but we lost so what the hell was he thinking?
do you agree with me about the mistake he did by leaving makaay home and bringing kuyt?

Posted from United States

By Rami | June 28th, 2006 at 8:27 am

I dont know anymore guys.. We have so much talent and potential everywhere I look.. Players that went to the WC and many of those who didnt.
It’s a shame really we never win…

Van nIstelrooy can still play in two years.. If he gets out of this state he is in now, and starts fresh playing at a new club.. he can probably rebuild his form. It is not too late.. He too has a considerable ego, considering the star he was at man utd.. But im sure if he’d focus on the game only from now on, blurring everything outside of it, he can still come back with vengeance.. I’m sorry but Kuyt is nowhere near Ruud. The former has his potentials and pluses but is not a striker you can count on to provide you with regular goals..

I have to say that Im losing faith in the Dutch league. If we look at Kuyt, hes a star in it… however on the world cup stage he was just a regular joe. Before VBasten starts picking players for his squad from over there (landzaat;maduro;Kuyt;…), the league itself should be performing well and at the level of other leagues, which is clearly not. Ajax, feyenoord, psv at not performing on the european stage as well as before. Good Players are constantly moving to bigger and more performant clubs.. Today if u want to win a champions league cup as a player i dont think its that wise to stay at ajax anymore.. you go to england or spain or Italy..
Thats I believe there should somke serious talk about the joint league. Van Basten seemed serious about it. He should definitely pursue it, as he has much more time now on his hands, being the national manager.

Again indirectly thats also why we had so much struggle with the 4-3-3 formation. Our players are all over europe playing in different leagues, different styles, formations and strategies.. And then suddenly a month before the WC VBasten complains he doesnt have time enough with his players.. I mean.. Obviously !!

If we want to pursue this style of playing, the Dutch Total Football style of playing, the 4-3-3 formation, I believe we have no other choice than to resort to a joint league with that of belgium.. We become much more competitive, and evidently stronger and capable of performing on the european and international stage.

You go back to the years of Johan in the 70s, Ajax was crowned champions of europe three times in a row (i think).. and it was much easier and comfortable and natural playing 4-3-3 because most of them were already playing for ajax or other competitive dutch teams on the european scale. Then it was beneficiary to play for ajax because it won cups and leagues.. Unlike now !!

And then look also at the generation of 94-95 in ajax.. look at what it produced?? It produced a 4th place in 98 and hot favorite semi-finalist in 2000..

Hope you all get my point lol.. Im sorry I write a lot.

Posted from Russian Federation

By frank | June 28th, 2006 at 11:24 am

1. van Nistelrooy

i think people have to accept that van Nistelrooy was not in form at this WC and during th elast season. He is a stricker and every stricker has to face ups and downs and it was bad luck that it has to be a WC season.

2. In my oppinion the dutch team had huge problems in the midfielfd long balls insteat of palying “dutch” football and two very selfish players with Robben and van persie. perhabs it was a problem that Robben had such a good start for the team it was clearly a disadvantage. van basten was simply not able to build a team that works and has a clear structure. perhabs a fit van der Vart was missing.

3. looking at the quaterfinals there are not many teams that really showed a good performance.
England Ukraine italy or even Brazil really showed nothing better than Holland spain or czech republic but that´s football.

Posted from Germany

By sphinx | June 28th, 2006 at 3:10 pm

Look back to Euro 2000. we were host with strongest squad,Cluivert & Bergkamps at their peak.
Miss 2 pinalties at normal playing time and miss hell of chances against 10 men Italians. Team of 11 great players with no cool finisher loss the best oppotunity ever.
VNS bloom up to fill this gap along with Makaay and later Huntelaar.
Basten kicked all of them off for different reasons.
IN 2006 we only scored 3 goals against Serbia and IC abd none against Argies and Portugals.
Means, our attack havn’t effective enough to score against top level defences.
Not any attacking mid-fielder scored also.
Mr Basten has to make clear himself either to form a team basing on Efficiency or Effectiveness. Effectiveness come not only from hard works and skill alone but from some instincts to react at right times.

Posted from Germany

By Clyde Van DutchWannabe | June 28th, 2006 at 3:56 pm

Actually Cluivert was very over-rated in my opinion. I’ve seen more goal attempts missed by him in one game than the number he has scored in his life. We really need a high caliber striker and that is where Van Nistelrooy came in and shone. He has great finishing skills and can work in very confined spaces. Although his recent form has not been good, it just means that he’ll score half as many goals as he normally would (ok wishful thinking on my part, but he did score). As far as Kuyt is concerned I rate him as a Cluivert, good only in easy scoring situations against easy teams. Sneijder is an average player, but despite several chances he hasn’t improved himself. I still rate the 98 worldcup team vastly superior to this team.

Posted from United States

By futebolblinger | June 28th, 2006 at 4:23 pm

Very Ruuuuuud players, Dutch boys and where was Seerdoff, where was Van Nisterooy on the round of 16!!
Van Basten is a very stupid person!!
That whole dutch squad was a jokes with the exception of Van Persie who does’nt even a regular @ ARSENAL.
KUYT is a very poor footballer!!

THE DUTCH SHOULD HAVE BEEN WEARING SKIRT ON THE PITCH AGAINST PORTUGAL!!!

By borneng | June 28th, 2006 at 5:14 pm

I’ve posted this comment before and I’ll post it again because this is how strong I feel about MvB’s decission.
================================
Everyone agree that MvB made mistakes but I disagree that he will learn from his mistakes. He hasn’t even admit he made huge mistake for not letting RvN play, let alone learn from it! Now he goes on about being adult and get on with it after the defeat? That’s just total shite. It’s him who is acting like a whiny little child by ignoring RVN in the last match because he is unhappy with him. MVB is a pethatic wanker that he let his personal feeling comes before the importance of the team and winning the match. This talk about aiming euro 2008 and WC is a bonus is just another of his pethatic excuse for his sad effing ego! If he wants to be a real good coach he would have put his personal feelings aside and allow the possibility of RvN score by playing in the match! Why settle for “being in a WC is a bonus” when they could have gone further!
=========================
The fact that KNVB actually extend MvB’s contract until next WC in 2010 is just way beyond my comprehension.

Posted from Ireland

By Marco van Idiot | June 28th, 2006 at 6:43 pm

nice job coaching Marco!!!! oh I forgot you didn’t do any coaching. No discipline, no inspiration, no experience (which he cut from the team), no scorers (kuyt over Ruud is a total joke and a disgrace to Nistelrooij), unimaginative football, with an eye on the future… seems that the future could have been better now… a “kid” in the world of coaching, and no honor for blasting Ruud publicly not personally like a man. Basten has turned Dutch football which traditionally is so beautiful into a disgrace apersonal parade for his over inflated ego… disgusting

Posted from Canada

By richard | June 28th, 2006 at 6:45 pm

Some good posts. First, I agree that the Dutch did not play very good football in this WC. They were conservative, and the attack was just not very effective–because the midfield was mediocre at best, because Robben and Van Persie are a bit selfish (but hugely talented)and there wasn’t a lot of chemistry up front. I was amazed at how much better the Mexicans played the argies than the dutch–but then that game meant something and our didn’t. Still, the Mexicans were very aggressive and attacking, which was refreshing.

RE RVN: He didn’t look great in this tourney–but van Basten probably screwed up by not bringing him in at halftime against the portugese. The coach also took out the wrong defender–big mistake.

Let’s keep in mind that hardly anybody is scoring much in this tourney: Were it not for some total bogus penalty shots (ukraine vs. tunisia–total dive by shevenchenko (sp)–italy vs. australia. If they Dutch can add some talent/athleticism to the midfield they will be OK because there is strength and youth on the squad. Is Sneijder the answer? Van der Vaart?

On an unrelated note: Fifa needs to do something about officiating: It is comically inconsistent and inept, really bad. The idea that one official can see fouls all over the pitch is ludicrous–and of course he doesn’t, which is why so many calls are wrong. What’s more, one official sees a challenge and calls nothing, another sees the same challenge and calls a penalty, a third officials sees the same challenge and gives a yellow. The inconistency and mistakes are bad because goals are precious.

Posted from United States

By Jan | June 28th, 2006 at 11:58 pm

Harldy an unrelated note, richard

Posted from Australia

By ayl18 | June 29th, 2006 at 12:52 pm

Alaa,

I do agree with you re. Kuyt/Makaay. I think that it was a mistake to bring an inexperienced Kuyt as opposed to Makaay. I don’t think that Kuyt is a bad player but i certainly think that Makaay is superior and adapts better to the system which MvB uses. Kuyt was (in my opinion) very wasteful of his chances in this WC and seemed to make very little impact up front (well, none really). Makaay on the other hand i’m sure would have been more efficient with his chances… the positive for Kuyt is that he did create chances but just lacked the finishing that someone like Ruud or Roy Makaay posess. I also disagree with MvB’s decision regarding his exclusion of Huntleaar but that’s another topic…

PS. I completely agree with you in that the public, and to an extent the team, saw the results to begin with and decided to focus on continuing those results rather than playing REAL football.

I hope this changes come the Euro 2008 and WC 2010

Posted from Australia

By richard | July 4th, 2006 at 9:05 pm

Marco Van ! you are the best .for the next World Cup .
We will Win.
Please continue Dutch caoch.
Thanks for everything

Posted from United States

By vix | July 11th, 2006 at 6:33 am

BIG mistake on Van Basten’s part. Am still mending a broken heart, but like Ruud said: I will never say no to Oranje! This will be Van Nistelrooy’s year!!

Posted from United States

By sudhakar | July 22nd, 2006 at 12:12 am

van basten made serious mistake by not playing RVN.it remains a fact that he can score goals and dutch actually played much better than portugal ,there was no one who could score a goal for them.

Posted from India

By Anthony | July 25th, 2006 at 7:37 pm

Hello, i must be truthful, Ruud is a very good player, he enjoys goal scoring, he has this enfacinating figure. HE IS DIFFERENT. I also want to ask for an answer, RONALDINHO AND RONALDO AND HENRY AND KLOSE WHO IS THE BEST IN EVERY WAY, may be by dribble, good goals and sportmanship u know, bye,plz reply.

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