Dutch striker accepts fate

Ruud van Nistelrooy accepts his international career is all but over after failing to make Holland's World Cup squad.

Striker admits international career looks over

Ruud van Nistelrooy accepts his international career is all but over after failing to make Holland's World Cup squad. The 33-year-old failed to make Holland's preliminary party named by coach Bert van Marwijk earlier this week. Van Nistelrooy joined Hamburg earlier in the season from Real Madrid, in order to try and prove himself to earn a place in South Africa. But van Marwijk left him out and he now accepts his international career is finished. "Of course I am greatly disappointed," he told Holland's NOS Studio Sport. "I do feel that I could have helped the team. "But now that my World Cup dream has been shattered, I think that my international career is over. I will be 34 in July. "It became quite clear over the last fortnight that the chances of me playing at the World Cup were rather small."