Netherlands forward Ruud van Nistelrooy said the UEFA EURO 2008™ tournament was fast becoming the highlight of his ten years with the national team.
Enjoyment
"Looking at the moment we are in right now, I can say it is the best period for me in ten years with the national team," he said in the press conference at Lausanne's Olympic Museum on the eve of the Netherlands' final Group C game against Romania. "In 1998 we also had a great group, when we played with different generations and some amazing players, but now we are really enjoying how we are performing in this tournament."
'Surprised ourselves'
Van Nistelrooy admitted that Marco van Basten's men had surprised themselves with the quality of their performances. "We have played some good games before also, but we ourselves never expected to play like this either, we surprised ourselves a bit. But we train hard for it, work very well together, with a group of good people, so that is also the reason it goes so well", said the Real Madrid CF player, who made his international debut in November 1998, not too long after the Dutch had reached that year's FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
Maintain momentum
Although the Marco van Basten's team have already secured first place in Group C, following wins against Italy and France, Van Nistelrooy stressed the importance of keeping the momentum going against Romania. "We want to continue to play the way we did in the first two games, that is the objective. We put a lot of hard work in it to get to this level and we do not want to lose this momentum," said Van Nistelrooy, who may potentially make way for the AFC Ajax striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Although a Romania win in Berne would eliminate France and Italy, the 31-year-old stressed the different permutations were not playing on Dutch minds. "We do not think like that, we'll go into the game as we always do. We'll go in with a clear focus, as we want to keep on going, keep on playing well. Like I said, we do not want to lose the momentum."
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