Holland beat Cameroon for Slovakia showdown

Cape Town: The Netherlands reaffirmed their status as one of the World Cup favourites on Thursday by beating Cameroon 2-1 to set up a knockout round clash with Slovakia.

Bert van Marwijk`s team only needed a point to secure top spot in Group E but took all three with goals from Robin van Persie and substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar cancelling out a Samuel Eto`o penalty. They now play Group F runners-up Slovakia, who beat defending champions Italy 3-2 earlier in the day. The Dutch once again proved they are one of the form sides in South Africa with a third win in a row, joining Argentina as the only teams with a 100 percent record so far. Van Marwijk, though, was not entirely happy. "I felt today was less good than the first two matches. We were dealing with a team that was already out and it was all or nothing for them," he said. "In the second half we started too loosely, too sloppily. I thought Cameroon might score and we might even lose. They did score and we were shaken awake and then we got the second.” "But that period of negligence we had, we cannot afford that again." Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen, who was a forlorn figure after his team`s third consecutive loss, confirmed he will step down. "It was planned all along that I would stop and I will stop with Cameroon," he said, adding that the team leave the World Cup with lots of regrets. "We know that we were carrying lots of hopes from everyone in Cameroon but we weren`t able to realise them." With the stadium awash in a sea of orange, and Holland ironically playing in white, both sides began brightly, with Rafael van der Vaart getting an early shot on target while Aurelien Chedjou forced a save at the other end. Chedjou was a surprise replacement for Arsenal`s Alex Song, who pulled out 10 minutes before the start with a left calf injury. Cameroon came into the match with nothing but pride to play for and 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 but with only goalkeeper Hamidou Souleymanou to beat, he blasted his shot straight at him in a wasted opportunity. Liverpool`s Dirk 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 came after a lovely one-two between van Persie and van der Vaart on 36 minutes, with the Arsenal striker sliding the ball through Souleymanou`s legs. With the Oranje passing the ball neatly, Cameroon were struggling to create chances until captain Eto`o ghosted past three defenders in a mazy run only to see his shot deflected out for a corner. His piece of magic sparked a mini-resurgence and they won a free-kick on the edge of the area. Geremi`s resulting shot hit van der Vaart`s arm and a penalty was awarded, which Eto`o calmly stepped forward to convert. Star winger Arjen Robben also got his first taste of South African World Cup action when he came on for van der Vaart with 17 minutes left, having missed their opening two games with a hamstring injury. He was in the thick of the action straight away, cutting in from the right and blasting a shot against the post in the 83rd minute, with Huntelaar burying the rebound to make it 2-1 and send the Dutch fans wild. "So far, it`s looking good, but we can still improve on bits and pieces," said van Persie. "Slovakia will be tough though. They showed really good spirt and hung in there against Italy and it was a great result for their country." Bureau Report