Can anyone shed any light on this? I too was mystified, and we can't rely on ABC/ESPN to get to the bottom of anything. I wasn't impressed with Ruud's replacement.
Van Basten said he didn't like Van Nistelrooij's performances in the group games. According to Van Basten his positioning left a lot to be desired, and his finishing was quite poor; he said that there was "not enough football" in Van Nistelrooij's game.
Now look at that Kuyt he put instead!
(as we say here, "he wouldn´t score a goal to a rainbow")