© EuroFootball.com
As Dutch head coach Marco van Basten told journalists on Thursday, Dutch national team and "Manchester United" forward Ruud van Nistelrooy may start the match against Portugal in a somewhat unusual place - on the bench.
"There are quite a few players in my team who are vying for the central forward position, and I believe that in Sunday's match against Portugal I will give this chance to Dirk Kuyt," the coach stated.
"Ruud has been showing rather unconvincing form recently, and his performance is not acceptable to me. He should make a great effort to appear on the field from the beginning of the quarterfinal match," added M. van Basten.
The Dutch national team collected the same number of points as Argentina in Group C, but remained in second place due to a worse goal difference. Meanwhile, R. van Nistelrooy managed to score a goal in the match against Ivory Coast, which the Dutch won 2-1, but in all three World Cup matches he would be substituted in the middle of the second half.
