4 May 2010

Van Nistelrooy out in the cold for World Cup

12:38 pm on 4 May 2010

The veteran striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy looks set to miss out on football's World Cup finals in South Africa after he was left out of the Dutch squad called up today for a training camp.

The 33-year-old Hamburg forward has scored 33 goals in his 64 international appearances and his only hope of playing in his second World Cup is if one of the selected strikers is injured before the deadline for the final squad to be announced on June 1.

The Dutch have yet to win the World Cup, despite reaching two finals in 1974 and 1978, and have been drawn with Denmark, Japan and Cameroon for the finals, which get underway on June 11 and run till July 11.