Van Nistelrooy looks to move to 3rd on Dutch list

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)—Having passed Johan Cruyff on the list of all-time Netherlands’ scorers, Ruud van Nistelrooy can move to equal third with a goal against Finland in the 2012 European Championshiop qualifier against Finland on Tuesday.
A goal in Rotterdam will take him level with football jerseys
Faas Wilkes on 35 goals and just two behind Dennis Bergkamp’s tally of 37. Patrick Kluivert, with 40 goals, is the all-time top scorer.
Finland will be looking to avoid starting its Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with back-to-back defeats, having been beaten 2-0 by Moldova on Friday after losing Sami Hyypia to a first-half red card. The Finland center back is suspended for Tuesday’s match.
Van Nistelrooy had thought his international career was over when he seriously hurt a knee after Euro 2008, but a left ankle injury to Robin van Persie resulted in the 34-year-old striker receiving a surprise late call-up last week.
He repaid coach Bert van Marwijk’s faith with an injury-time volley to complete the 5-0 win over San Marino on Friday after coming on as a substitute.
“I felt the emotions when I came on at the nfl jerseys china
end,” Van Nistelrooy said. “I realized that I had come back from a long way down.”
After recovering from his knee injury, Van Nistelrooy struggled to break back into the Real Madrid starting lineup and was left out of Van Marwijk’s World Cup squad. He had to watch as the team charged to the final, only to lose 1-0 in extra time to Spain. Van Nistelrooy moved last season to Hamburg to gain more playing time.
Van Nistelrooy will likely start on the bench again. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who recently joined Schalke from AC Milan for the same reason, scored three goals Friday in one of his rare opportunities to play a full 90 minutes for the Netherlands.
Another veteran likely to play at Feyenoord’s Kuip stadium is Jari Litmanen, the stylish Finland playmaker who made his name with Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie.
A victory Tuesday would be the Netherlands’ 12th of Rams jersey
this calendar year, a new record. History is on the home team’s side—the Netherlands’ only loss in 12 previous meetings came in 1950.
The Netherlands will also be missing Arjen Robben, who is likely to be out for the rest of the year with a left hamstring injury. But center back John Heitinga will return from suspension.
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