Van Nistelrooy shocked at squad omission

Ruud van Nistelrooy has spoken of his shock at being dropped from Holland’s squad to face the Republic of Ireland in Dublin tomorrow.

He joins fellow big name Mark van Bommel on the sidelines as coach Marco van Basten wields the axe following a disappointing World Cup campaign, which ended at the second-round stage with defeat to Portugal.

Van Basten opted for a young squad for Germany and has continued to lower its average age with his mind firmly on Euro 2008.

Van Nistelrooy, 30, said: “I was unpleasantly surprised. It’s obvious Van Basten prefers to continue with young players.

“In this group, only goalie Edwin van der Sar is older. At the moment, I can live with this choice.”

With veteran Phillip Cocu now retired from international football and Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf continuing to be overlooked, the coach explained he was happy to give chances to Holland’s rising stars, such as Ajax goal-machine Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

“At this point, we think these players are better,” he said. “Now that we have started our preparation for the European Championship, we have again chosen 18 players in whom we have the most faith.

“For the time being, we want to continue with this group. They will have an opportunity to convince us.

“Huntelaar is progressing steadily. He had a good season with Ajax, won the under-21 tournament and now he keeps on scoring in international matches.”