Ruud van Nistelrooy struck twice to lead the Netherlands to an emphatic 3-0 win over Latvia that sent them through to the Euro 2004 quarter-finals.
Holland got the help they needed from the Czech Republic, who edged out Germany 2-1 in the other Group D game, and beat Latvia convincingly, controlling the game from start to finish.
The Manchester United striker broke the deadlock after 27 minutes when he sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the penalty spot after Latvia's Vitalijs Astafjevs was almost certainly wrongly adjudged to have fouled Edgar Davids in the area.
Astafjevs also played a part in the second goal eight minutes later when he gave away a freekick for a challenge on Chelsea-bound midfielder Arjen Robben.
Clarence Seedorf took the resulting setpiece and floated in a deep cross to Phillip Cocu who headed by the ball back to van Nistelrooy, leaving him with the simplest of tasks to head the ball in at the right post.
The Dutch were completely running the show by this stage and were unlucky not to go in at the break with an even bigger lead. Seedorf hit the crossbar with a vicious free-kick, and van Nistelrooy saw his powerful strike from the edge of the area well saved five minutes before the break.
Latvia, who still had an outside chance of progressing to the quarter-finals at the start of the night, rallied slightly after the break and enjoyed their best spell of the evening.
Fulham goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was called into action to make a fine save from Rubins before midfielder Valentins Lobanovs saw his effort drift just wide of the post, with van der Sar looking stranded.
In the 67th minute, Seedorf spurned a glorious chance to make it it 3-0 but his header, following an inch perfect cross on the right from Frank de Boer, was woefully off-target.
Substitute Roy Makaay wrapped up the victory with six minutes to go as he burst through the Latvian defence and fired a low, powerful shot towards the right post, with the goalkeeper unable to clear. And, as news trickled through of the Czech Republic's 2-1 victory over Germany, the Dutch celebrations go underway.
Filed by Rob Wright
