Red hot van Nistelrooy forced to sit out Dutch encounter
Ruud van Nistelrooy was the match winner from the penalty spot against Birmingham but his awesome scoring talents will not be available to Holland on Saturday after he was dropped from the squad by manager Dick Advocaat for a show of anger at being substituted in the last international.
The Dutch face Moldova in the Euro 2004 qualifiers, and though they are already certain to contest the play-offs there is now a large question over what van Nistelrooy’s role will be.
There will be no such absences from Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs for England and Wales, after both crowned top-notch performances with classy goals against the 10-man Blues.
The promise of 19-year-old Darren Fletcher may also prove too tempting to Scotland coach Berti Vogts, who has called the teenager into his squad for the first-time.
Van Nistelrooy, having scored his eighth goal in eight Premiership games, will be putting his feet up. He said: “It was disappointing but then again that’s a fact at the moment and I have accepted that,” he said.
As for Fletcher, playing in the position so long associated with David Beckham, his progress has astonished van Nistelrooy.
The Dutchman said: “He had a great performance and proved again he’s a fantastic and very promising talent. He showed it at Leicester a week ago as well and it’s fantastic to see such a young man play such great football.”
Birmingham had been so gritty in the first 35 minutes that it was clear to see why they had arrived at Old Trafford unbeaten. That all changed when van Nistelrooy’s tremendous pass picked out Scholes’ run and keeper Maik Taylor arrived a fraction of a second too late and flattened him.
Referee Mike Dean had little choice under the rules but to award a penalty and send off Taylor, who will now miss the derby against Aston Villa in a fortnight.
Van Nistelrooy scored from the spot for the second time in four days to dispel any lingering doubts about whether, after three misses, he had lost his nerve.
He added: “It’s hard to take penalties after you have missed one and after you have missed three it’s even harder, but I always had belief in what I can do so I was ready to take the next one and it went all right again,” he said.
After that, United rampaged through the depleted Birmingham ranks at will. “It was all over then and it was backs to the wall,” said Steve Bruce afterwards.
Tim Howard had one decent save to make from Jamie Clapham, otherwise it was all Birmingham could do to keep the scoreline respectable.
Substitute keeper Ian Bennett was among those who believed the referee’s decision had been too harsh on Taylor. Bennett said: “He made a genuine attempt to get the ball, it was not that he was clear on goal and he was looking to bring him down.
"You could argue that Paul Scholes was going away from goal and David Dunn said he might have got back to cover too.”
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