Curtains For Ruud In Oranje

Call me cynical, but international footballers seem to have taken over for boxers and Green Bay Packers quarterbacks when it comes to calling time on their careers. The sound bites come off as genuine as a pitch on that gorgeous red coupe at the corner of the lot from Honest Hank, the used car salesman. And more often than not, their “retirement” lasts about as long as that red coupe which, coincidentally, has had a couple minor fender benders. Too many players to name, but let’s take a look at the 2006 World Cup France squad and call it a day.

So with that said….Ruud van Nistelrooy has announced his retirement from the Dutch NT. Again.

In fairness to Ruud his last retirement was more of a “you can’t quit me I quit you!” hissy fit/throwdown with Marco van Basten who had, along with Sir Alex, decided Ruud’s best days were somewhere back there. Well they were wrong. So after Ruud and Marco made nice and were back on civil terms, he reentered the international frame, doing quite well for himself in the process and helping the Oranje become the hottest team at Euro 2008 until they weren’t.

Now, though, it’s more of a physical decision because the man is just getting a bit too old (32) to juggle all that Real Madrid requires (quite a bit) as well as the Dutch WC qualifying campaign (ditto). Fair enough. We’ve seen the same happen with other prominent players in the past and we’ll see the same with plenty in the future.

“After I looked at the programmes of Real Madrid and Oranje, I came to the conclusion it is too heavy a burden because of the necessary physical effort,” he said. “I have no other choice.”

So that’s that….for now.

But say he decides in a year or two to go back to the rolling hills of Holland in order to see out his career - a common move for Dutch superduperstars - and finds that the requirements of the Eredivisie aren’t quite as demanding as those in Madrid. Much less demanding, in fact, and you can really, really relax when you meet up with those Ajax away fixtures, making everything that much easier. And then the World Cup comes rolling around and he picks up an itch…..that….he….just…..can’t….scratch.

We’ll see you in South Africa 2010, Ruud. You and Brett Favre.