Van Persie gives Holland 1-0 half-time lead

Robin van Persie gave the Netherlands a 1-0 half-time lead against Cameroon here on Thursday as the Dutch stayed on track to make it three out of three World Cup wins.

The Arsenal striker pounced on 36 minutes, sliding the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Hamidou Souleymanou after some smart build-up work from Dirk Kuyt and Rafael van der Vaart.

The Dutch have already qualified for the round of 16 after beating Denmark 2-0 and Japan 1-0, and they need just one point to top Group E.

That would set them up against Slovakia for a place in the quarter-finals.

With the stadium awash in a sea of orange, and Holland ironically playing in white, both sides began brightly, with van der Vaart getting an early shot on target while Aurelien Chedjou forced a save at the other end.

Chedjou was a surprise starter. Arsenal’s Alex Song was listed on the team sheet but he failed to appear, with the Lille defender replacing him, seemingly at the last minute.

Cameroon came into the match with nothing but pride to play for, having already been eliminated, and they took the initiative, spraying the ball around and forcing Holland onto the back foot.

Midfielder Jean Makoun had a decent chance on 11 minutes, meeting Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s fine cross, but glanced the ball wide.

Despite Cameroon having more of the early possession it was van Persie who should have opened the scoring.

The 26-year-old chested the ball down and shook off his defender and with only keeper Souleymanou to beat, he blasted his shot straight at him in a wasted opportunity.

Liverpool’s Kuyt also had a fine chance after finding himself in space inside the penalty area soon after, but his daisy-cutter drifted just past the left-hand post.

The pressure though was building and the breakthrough inevitably came after a lovely one-two between van Persie and van der Vaart.