Twice as nice

Van Hooijdonk double paces Netherlands in Van Basten's debut

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Striker Pierre van Hooijdonk scored twice to give Netherlands and new coach Marco van Basten a dream start to their World Cup qualifying campaign as they beat the Czech Republic 2-0 on Wednesday. (Scores and match reports)

Van Hooijdonk grabbed a goal in each half to provide the Dutch with a measure of revenge for a 3-2 defeat to the Czechs in a pulsating match in the group stages of Euro 2004.

"We can be proud of this win against a very strong opponent. This is a good start," Van Basten, the former Dutch goalscoring great, told reporters after his first competitive match in charge of the national team.

Czech Republic was missing three first-choice midfielders in playmaker Pavel Nedved, Karel Poborsky and Tomas Galasek but Karel Brueckner's weakened team coped well early on.

The Czechs dominated the first half and Tomas Rosicky, Milan Baros and Marek Heinz all missed good opportunities created by the effective use of their counter-attacking weapon.

"We played really well tonight but it may be typical Czech that we failed to convert our chances," said Brueckner.

KILLER PASS

Netherlands went in front against the run of play on 33 minutes as Dirk Kuijt's defence-splitting pass found Rafael van der Vaart, who set up Van Hooijdonk to score.

In the second half the Czechs went on the attack but a header against the bar from striker Jan Koller was the closest they came to an equaliser and Van Hooijdonk sealed victory for the Dutch six minutes from time with a header.

"It was outrageous how my players were held on every dead ball situation," complained Brueckner. "This happens more and more and the referee only gave the advantage to the defenders."

Van Basten started the Group One match with an offensive 3-4-3 formation using Van Hooijdonk as the target man and his tactics and choice of personnel paid handsome dividends.

"We worked hard this week and knew that playing with three defenders would bring some risks," said Van Basten. "It was so important that everyone did their job like we agreed. I have to pay my team a compliment, they fought like lions."

Summary

Netherlands 2 Czech Republic 0 - result

Scorer: Pierre Van Hooijdonk 33, 84

World Cup European zone Group One qualifier

Halftime 1-0; Attendance: 48,000

Teams

Netherlands: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 2-John Heitinga, 3-Andre Ooijer, 5-Nigel de Jong; 4-Wesley Sneijder, 6-Mark van Bommel, 8-Edgar Davids, 10-Rafael van der Vaart (12-Kahlid Bouhlarouz 64); 11-Dirk Kuijt, 9-Pierre van Hooijdonk (15-Giovanni van Bronckhorst 86), 7-Romeo Castelen (18-Roy Makaay 74).

Czech Republic: 1-Petr Cech; 13-Martin Jiranek (2-Zdenek Grygera 58), 5-Rene Bolf, 21-Tomas Ujfalusi, 6-Marek Jankulovski; 18-Marek Heinz, 10-Tomas Rosicky, 17-Tomas Hubschman (14-Stepan Vachousek 62), 19-Roman Tyce (12-Vratislav Lokvenc 76); 15-Milan Baros, 9-Jan Koller

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.