Ruud concedes Dutch defeat

Ruud van Nistelrooy accepts that his international career is over as long as Marco van Basten remains as Holland coach.

The Real Madrid front man does not see eye-to-eye with van Basten and he has not played for his country since being substituted against Argentina in the final group game of the World Cup.

Van Nistelrooy did not feature in Holland's subsequent elimination at the hands of Portugal and neither was he selected for forthcoming European Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria and Albania next month.

The former Manchester United favourite concedes that his relationship with van Basten has reached a point of no return, in terms of him being selected again for his country.

"The understanding between us (he and Van Basten) was troubled, and that was exactly the reason why I told the closest people to me, after the World Cup ended for us, that I would not be called up anymore," he told Dutch magazine Sportweek.

"I am now talking about Oranje in the past tense, and that is weird.

"But I will never call any coach of the Dutch team to tell him that I don't want to play international games anymore.

"I deserve to be in the squad, and I am convinced of that. But it seems that I am no longer part of the current plans."

Van Nistelrooy is of the opinion that van Basten allowed personal issues to cloud his selections and he is openly critical of this method of management.

"It's a shame that the national team coach is not only driven by the footballing abilities of his players, but other things as well," he added.

"I call that the 'I like you' part, he just doesn't like having some personalities in his team.

"Van Basten told me that he thought I played badly in all three group games.

"Well, if he thought that I played poorly against Ivory Coast, it might be best if we don't work together anymore."