Sunday, June 7, 2009

Dutch delight after qualification

Rafael van der Vaart has revealed his delight after Holland beat Iceland 2-1 to seal their spot at next year's World Cup finals.

Goals from Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel enabled Bert van Marwijk's side to maintain their 100% record in qualifying Group Nine - this was their sixth win out of six - before Kristjan Orn Sigurdsson headed a late consolation in Reykjavik.

The victory saw Holland become the first European nation to confirm their place at the 2010 extravaganza in South Africa.

"We made the most of our excellent start to the game and although we didn't play that well in the second half, it doesn't really matter," declared an ecstatic van der Vaart who plies his club trade with Spanish giants Real Madrid.

"We did what we came here to do and we're very happy to be going to South Africa next year."

Holland's success now means they are set to make their ninth appearance at a World Cup Finals, with the first being in 1934.

They have been runners-up on two occasions, in 1974 when they lost to West Germany, and in 1978 when they lost out to Argentina.

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