Holland coach Marco van Basten has
named Mark van Bommel in his 22-man squad to face Bulgaria and
Albania, but there is again no place for Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Van Basten had previously cast doubt on Van Bommel's future by
saying Bayern Munich's big summer signing had no immediate part to
play in the national side.
He has acted otherwise, however.
"It is a bit unusual, but he is part of the group," Van Basten
said.
"We have followed him the last few weeks at Bayern of course and we
found that he was doing a good job.
"We have brought him back into the squad, although that might look
odd. But he is part of the group."
Van Nistelrooy's exclusion comes as no surprise.
He was dropped by the coach at the World Cup and does not appear to
be getting any closer to a recall, despite a prolific start to his
new career at Real Madrid.
Van Nistelrooy was recently critical of Van Basten, and the coach
said: "I think that we simply have to say what we already said
before: we select players on football arguments and football
qualities.
"The situation about the strikers position is clear."
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Dirk Kuyt are
the first three strikers in front of him.
Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg has also not been included.
The Oranje face Bulgaria in Sofia on October 7, before returning to
Amsterdam for the clash against Albania on October 11.
Arjen Robben, Tim de Cler and Kew Jaliens have also made the group
after their omission from the last game against Belarus.
Holland: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Henk Timmer
(Feyenoord); Khalid Boulahrouz (Chelsea), Tim de Cler (AZ),
Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Barcelona), Urby Emanuelson (Ajax), John
Heitinga (Ajax), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg), Kew Jaliens (AZ), Andre
Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers); Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich), Nigel
de Jong (Hamburg), Denny Landzaat (Wigan Athletic), Stijn Schaars
(AZ), Wesley Sneijder (Ajax), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ); Ryan Babel
(Ajax), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Ajax), Dirk
Kuyt (Liverpool), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic), Robin van
Persie (Arsenal).
Look Strong Will be stronger with RVN
don't understand why the coach leave out such a great goal ratio
striker proparbly he got some grudges or something against RVN or
else I can't think of any reason why he drop RVN