Holland made their way to their third World Cup final and their first for 32 years with an efficient rather than domineering performance over South America’s last remaining nation to ensure that for the first time a European team would win the World Cup outside its own continent. Perhaps it was a reaction to their victory over Brazil but, apart from Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s spectacular opener, Holland did not play especially well and when Diego Forlan, one of the tournament’s outstanding performers, equalised, it appeared the Dutch might fall at the final hurdle. That they did not was due to the fact that their two big players, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, once more performed when it absolutely mattered. And   when Robben   headed home Sneijder’s cross for the third Dutch goal the celebrations in what was once a Dutch colony could begin. They left for Johannesburg with lingering doubts about their defence, which for the fourth successive time failed to keep a clean sheet. However, Dirk Kuyt’s work-rate and the talents of Sneijder and Robben were too much for a patched up Uruguay that still managed to eclipse their South American neighbours.