Van Nistelrooy proves his worth

Ruud van Nistelrooy underlined his importance last night with a late winner against Albania that took the Netherlands level with Romania at the top of their UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying group.

Tirana tie
Before this week, the Real Madrid CF striker had not played a competitive game for his country since the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The 31-year-old marked his recall by coach Marco van Basten with the second goal in the 2-0 victory against Bulgaria in Amsterdam on Saturday but an even more significant contribution came with a minute of added time played in last night’s tie in Tirana.

'Difficult match'
Substitute Urby Emanuelson drove along the left wing before crossing in for Van Nistelrooy to score the only goal of the game in acrobatic fashion. "It has been a difficult match," Van Nistelrooy said after his 30th goal in 57 internationals. "We already knew it would be tough before the game. If it had stayed 0-0 they would have had a big party here but in the end we won using good wing play and a great cross to the right position. You have to keep going until the final minute. This is something we have all worked very hard on."

Sneijder suspended
The 1-0 victory has set up a huge Group G encounter on 13 October against a Romania side who managed a 0-0 draw in Rotterdam last March. The Oranje will be without three players because of suspension, namely Mario Melchiot, Robin van Persie and Van Nistelrooy's Madrid team-mate Wesley Sneijder. The latter was cautioned with three minutes of normal time remaining but was pleased to have played his part. "The conditions were difficult and our opponents did everything to win," Sneijder said. "They made it very tough for us but the most important thing is the three points."

Coach content
Van Basten believed the manner of the victory suggested his team had moved closer to qualifying for the finals in Austria and Switzerland next summer. He said: "We were very disciplined and in the end have made a huge step towards the [UEFA] European Championship. Albania are not to be underestimated. They are difficult opponents who play physically and use all kinds of tricks. But we kept calm, no crazy things happened and in the end we booked a deserved victory. When you are professional, in the end luck will be on your side."