Dutch begin their redemption

Latvia 0 Holland 3A ground with a cliff face behind one goal and a stone-fronted mound behind the other is as close as Dick Advocaat is ever likely to come to seeing his team quite literally between a rock and a hard place.

Metaphorically, though, the Dutch coach passes most of his time in just such a location, obliged as he is by a nation's populace and press to strive endlessly not just for success but also the sometimes incompatible objective of the beautiful game.

Their opening two matches of this tournament had yielded well short of the required quota of either from a Dutch team boasting both enough individual talent to carry them to the final here on Sunday week and the sort of gift for self-destruction that would have left few particularly surprised had they gone out last night.

This victory, however, ensured that Germany would suffer that particular humiliation; how Advocaat must wish that his side could come face-to-face with brave but ever-so-beatable sides like Latvia more often. Eventually his popularity with the nation's football-obsessed population might increase, although it would clearly take some time: even after a first half in which his side had played well and scored twice, the coach was still booed when his face appeared on the stadium's big screen.

The late goal conceded against the Czechs on Saturday meant that the Dutch had to obtain a better result than the Germans could manage down in Lisbon if they were to progress. Not an entirely straightforward objective on the face of it, for the Latvians had looked like nobody's pushovers in the earlier games and might well have beaten Rudi Voller's side had they been awarded the penalty they should have had in that contest's second half.

From very early on this time, however, it was apparent that they were a spent force, content perhaps with having given the Czechs a game and taken a point from the Germans, and tired, too, no doubt by the effort of it all.

And so, sensing that it would be a good night for them, the Dutch fans passed most of the opening half singing jubilantly in this remarkable stadium's two imposing stands while their players danced easily around their opponents out on the pitch.

Their dominance, particularly in the opening half, was such that Ruud van Nistelrooy might have had half a dozen, never mind a hat-trick. But even as it was, with the Manchester United striker passing up a succession of clear-cut chances to beat Aleksandrs Kolinko, he still did enough to make the game as good as safe before the interval.

Neither of the 27-year-old's goals will be long remembered. The first was a penalty after Edgar Davids had tumbled under the slightest of pressure from Mihails Zemlinskis, the second a header from barely a yard after Phillip Cocu had turned Clarence Seedorf's long, searching free from the left back across the face of the goal. They were, however, vital, for they removed fairly early on the pressure for a breakthrough that has so often stifled the Dutch, whose subsequent inability to deliver while under the cosh has so often before cost them dearly on big occasions.

With the game more or less in the bag they were free to push the ball around and produce the brand of football for which the team is sometimes famous. That they did, with Davids again turning in an impressive performance in midfield and Arjen Robben, the young winger whose withdrawal on Saturday prompted so much criticism, excelling down the left.

On this evidence the Chelsea-bound winger will present serious competition to Damien Duff, for he offers much the same range of assets - pace, agility and dazzling ball control - and may also have that little bit more strength thrown into the mix.

With the Dutch defence hardly tested, save for a couple of quick breaks by the Latvians early in the second period, and the team's midfield firmly in control, there were plenty of opportunities for Robben to show us his bag of tricks. The 20-year-old duly obliged, tying up one opponent after another, but most often Aleksandrs Isakovs, in knots while on surging runs in to the box.

More than once he might have extended the Dutch lead, but when the third goal came he had to content himself with the role of provider, beating a couple of defenders on the way into the area before slipping the ball inside to Roy Makaay who easily beat Kolinko from 12 yards out.

By then, however, the orange-clad supporters who made up more than three-quarters of the crowd had been celebrating for almost 10 minutes, word having spread quickly of the Milan Baros strike that had made it 2-1 for the Czechs at the Alvalade Stadium.

"Cze-chee, Cze-chee, Cze-cheee," they chanted as the game petered out with a series of increasingly tame exchanges.

When they awake this morning they will know that Sweden in the Algarve on Saturday will be a more challenging affair, but at the final whistle last night we were presented with a rare show of Dutch unity: players, coach and supporters celebrating as one, believing again after all the disappointments of recent weeks that they can go on to win this tournament.

They wouldn't be the first to make the most of a little luck at this stage of a major competition.