Huntelaar and Afellay braces maintain Dutch record

Two goals apiece from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay saw World Cup finalists the Netherlands to an impressive 4-1 victory over previously unbeaten Sweden in their Euro 2012 qualifier here on Tuesday.

The victory sees the Dutch maintain their perfect start to the qualifiers with four wins from four matches with the only black spot of the night an ankle injury to winger Dirk Kuyt that saw him taken to hospital.

Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk said that he was worried the injury to Kuyt was a serious one, but was delighted with the manner of his side’s victory.

“We played really well,” said van Marwijk, who was praised last week for the stance he took over ejecting midfielder Nigel de Jong from the squad for a horror tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa in the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Newcastle.

“We could have scored a few more. But we also offered up a few opportunities to our opponents. But overall, we played football that I like to watch.”

Huntelaar – a bit part player in the march to the World Cup final – struck in the fourth minute, rounding off a superb move which involved Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart.

Huntelaar – who has failed to sparkle both at AC Milan and then Real Madrid before alighting on Schalke 04 – took his tally to eight goals in the four qualifiers when he made it 3-0 following up a beautiful piece of individual skill by Afellay.

Afellay had never scored in his previous 29 appearances for the ‘Oranje’ but he ended that drought in style on Tuesday.

He first struck in the 37th minute after superb work by Sneijder and then rounded off the scoring in the 59th minute after being found by Huntelaar and finished the match in tears with the emotion of it being too much for him.

The Swedes were shellshocked but still at least managed a consolation effort through Andreas Granqvist in the 69th minute.