Ruud Van Nistelrooy Scores For Netherlands To Win 1-0 Against Albania
Netherlands striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who is also the striker for Spanish La Liga Champions Real Madrid, scored a late goal in their UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Albania in the Qemal Stafa at Tirana, Albania, to give them a 1-0 win, and tie Romania on top of Group G with 20 points each.
Netherlands’ substitute Urby Emanuelson crossed the ball from the left wing to Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who made an acrobatic volley that sent the ball past Albanian goalkeeper Arian Beqaj in injury time. Van Nistelrooy’s goal gives him his 30th goal in 57 international matches for Netherlands.
It was a very competitive match from the start, and both sides had their fair share of shots on goal. Netherlands were the ones who applied the early pressure with attempts from Wesley Sneijder, Robin Van Persie and Ruud Van Nistelrooy charging the attak for the Oranje. Albania also played an inspired game in front of their home crowd, and were able to threaten Netherlands keeper Edwin van der Sar through the efforts of Albania’s Edmond Kapllani, Lorik Cana and Erion Bogdani.
“It has been a difficult match. 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,” Ruud Van Nistelrooy commented about their victory.
Albania went down to 10 men near the end of regulation time when Cana was booked with a red card for unsportsmanlike behavior when he reacted to a foul committed by Netherlands mid-fielder Wesley Sneijder. Certainly, Netherlands took full advantage of the situation in order to come away with a goal in injury time and take the 3 points to move up to the top of Group G.
The next UEFA 2008 Euro Qualififer match of the Netherlands on October 13 will be against Romania at the Farul Constanta stadium in Constanta, Romania. Romania share the lead with Netherlands on the top of Group G, and this next match will prove decisive to see who will be the Group G leaders. Romania were able to draw against Netherlands 0-0 when Romania were the visitors at Rotterdam. Netherlands will be without three players because of suspension - Mario Melchiot, Robin van Persie and Wesley Sneijder.
Netherlands head coach Marco Van Basten feels confident that Netherlands will be competing in the UEFA Euro 2008 Finals, considering the kind of discipline and determination displayed by the Netherlands against Albania.
“We were very disciplined and in the end have made a huge step towards the 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,” Van Basten stated.
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