Freiburg: Netherlands striker Ruud van Nistelrooy could be left out of the starting lineup for Sunday's second-round World Cup match against Portugal, coach Marco van Basten said on Thursday.
"The central position up front is a point of discussion and the chance that Dirk (Kuijt) will start on Sunday has increased," Van Basten said.
Van Nistelrooy started the tournament as first choice but has scored only one goal, against Ivory Coast, and was taken off in all three Group C matches.
It was a remarkable move from the Dutch national coach to criticise his first-choice striker as he had backed him up when he was under fire at his club Manchester United.
United boss Alex Ferguson dropped Van Nistelrooy two months before the end of the season in favour of Frenchmen Louis Saha but Van Basten then declared his confidence in the striker.
"It is not nice for him when he is replaced but we did not speak about it," added Van Basten on Thursday.
"Ruud (van Nistelrooy) will understand that if you play well you will not be substituted. We might expect more from Ruud (van Nistelrooy), he has to play a bigger role in our attack."
Van Basten has considerable strength in depth in his squad and is happy to use the competition from within the group to improve standards.
"The same goes for every player - if your contribution gets less there is a chance you will be substituted," he said.
It could be that Van Basten is simply using some old fashioned motivational tactics to fire up Van Nistelrooy.
The late Dutch coach Rinus Michels kept striker Van Basten on the bench in the Netherlands' first match of their 1988 European Championship campaign.
Michels's psychological trick worked perfectly as a fired-up Van Basten returned to strike five goals in the remaining four matches to seal the trophy for the Dutch.
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