EURO in sight for Van Basten

Marco van Basten said his side "should not fail" to reach the finals after two Real Madrid CF stars helped earn the Netherlands victory against Bulgaria.

'In principle'
Just a day after their Santiago Bernabéu team-mate Royston Drenthe had scored the only goal in the Jong Oranje's 1-0 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying win against Norway, Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy struck in Amsterdam to lift the senior side's hopes of reaching UEFA EURO 2008™ and leaving their coach feeling confident. "I am glad, relieved and satisfied," he said. "In principle we should not fail to qualify now."

'We are lucky'
Sneijder, back at the Amsterdam ArenA for the first time since leaving AFC Ajax for Madrid this summer, earned the coach's praise for his opener, a 20-metre free-kick into the bottom corner. "It was a very beautiful goal," said Van Basten, who scored a few in his time. Van Nistelrooy swept the second past goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov from Ryan Babel's cross. "Football is easier when you have this kinds of determined players in your team," said Van Basten. "We are lucky to have players like Sneijder, Babel, [Robin] Van Persie and Van Nistelrooy."

Only shot
Van Nistelrooy underlined his efficiency as a striker, admitting after the game: "I think I only had one shot the whole match. The rest of the time I was busy running into space and keeping moving." His 29th goal in 56 internationals marked his first competitive game for the Dutch national since resolving his differences with Van Basten. "Ruud has done very well," said the coach. "He played well and was good at the link-up play. He only got one proper chance but he scored from it and that shows his ability."