Van's the man to lead Dutch attack
Thu 10 Jun, 6:05 PM
LISBON (AFP) - Manchester United striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy will operate as the lone striker when the Netherlands face Germany in their first Euro 2004 Group D match on Tuesday, coach Dick Advocaat announced.
"Van Nistelrooy is the best choice for the team. He has proved in the past that he can score at the top level. None of the four strikers really impressed me during the training sessions and the friendly matches we played, but I believe Ruud is a real match player," Advocaat said on Thursday.
"I think this team functions best with players out wide on the flanks. I tried other schemes during the friendlies but playing with two central strikers did not work out so well."
Van Nistelrooy's role in a 4-3-3 formation with midfielders pushing up to the flanks means Patrick Kluivert will be relegated to the bench and the decision has also angered Bayern Munich hotshot Roy Makaay.
But team captain Phillip Cocu supported the coach's solution as the Dutch attempt to overcome strife within the camp - van Nistelrooy declared earlier in the week the side wasn't good enough to win the trophy - and rebound from the 1-0 defeat against Ireland in their final friendly last Saturday which saw the 1988 Euro champions booed off the pitch.
"Yesterday during the training session we played a match and it felt so much more comfortable," Cocu said.
"It is hard to understand why the combination between Kluivert and van Nistelrooy didn't work out. I think it bothers them too and they can't explain why it just won't work."
Meanwhile Dutch injury concerns eased with both Chelsea-bound winger Arjen Robben and midfielder Andy van der Meyde resuming training.
Lively left-winger Robben, who is being touted as one of the brightest prospects in the game, had been troubled by a niggling hamstring injury, but he came through a training session unscathed on Wednesday.
Inter Milan's van der Meyde tweaked a hamstring during a morning training session but after treatment was able to practice with the full squad on Wednesday evening.
"It was nothing serious, just a little tension I felt," van der Meyde said. "I just do not want to take any risk certainly if the coach decides to play wingers again because that increases my chances of playing."