Bern: The Dutch always had beauty. Now they have clinical efficiency, too. Just ask France. Or Italy.
Creative sparkle and clinical finishing set the Netherlands up for a 4-1 win over France on Friday and sent the rapidly aging French team tottering toward a game they must win against world champion Italy to stand a chance of staying in the European championship.
Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie all got on the scoresheet against France, while Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry looked old and dull.
With a second classic performance in as many games, the Dutch again produced the genius any championship craves, compiling a total of seven goals against the two World Cup finalists.
Les Bleus had not conceded that many goals or lost by that wide a margin since 1982. The Netherlands beat Italy 3-0 in Monday for their worst loss in a quarter century.
"We have had two fantastic wins with this team," Netherlands coach Marco van Basten said.
The Dutch had been outsiders to reach the quarter-finals with Italy and France in their group, yet qualified with a game to spare.
The only goal the 1988 champions have conceded came from Henry, who scored his record 45th goal for France in the 71st minute.
Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt also scored for the Dutch on Friday.
"Italy were already so beautiful and this is exactly the same," said Sneijder, who was picked man of the match for the second time in a row. "Super. Italy and France are nothing to laugh at."
The second Dutch goal will be cherished by the Netherlands for years and will haunt the aging French defence.
After Kuyt gave the Netherlands the lead in the ninth minute with a header from a corner kick, Van Persie finished off an attack in the 59th.
Ruud van Nistelrooy spun some magic with close footwork to send Robben down the left and the counter was on.
The winger outran opposition, bided his time and saw Van Persie make a run on the right. The Arsenal winger pushed it past Gregory Coupet for the second goal.
After Henry had put the game within French reach with a subtle deflection from a cross from the right by Willy Sagnol, the tension in the 30,000-capcity stadium suddenly was electric.
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One minute later, Robben was loose on the left, with France's once-great defender Lilian Thuram ahead of him.
Working at twice the pace, he created space and rifled the ball past Coupet high in the net. At 36, Thuram didn't know what happened to him.
In injury time, another great goal to rub it in.
Van Nistelrooy served Van Persie, who served Sneijder in the center. The Real Madrid midfielder turned his defender and with a curling shot from 20 meters capped another perfect evening.
"Lets have a party now. Not too much because we still need to play the quarter-finals," Sneijder said.
For some spells, France at least proved they could still play great football.
The French didn't want to be lulled into another bad result like the scoreless draw against Romania, but coach Raymond Domenech failed to come up with the magic formula for goals.
"Really this hurts," Domenech said. "Our defence was always our strength. ... We were unlucky at times. But they have quality and we were missing something."
"We were not efficient and that has been our recurring problem for a while now. You can't do much about that," Domenech added. "Every time we came back into the match they scored, and that's what killed us."
Even with the return of Henry, the thousands of blue-clad fans in the stands of the Stade de Suisse were left wanting. Henry had his first major action in the 43rd minute and it was well off the mark.
And when the Dutch started to look brittle for the first time in the championships, up stepped standout goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.
Ever since making the vital penalty stop to give Manchester United the Champions League title, it seems he can do no wrong.
In a five-minute spell late in the half, the 37-year-old Van der Sar saved the team three times.
In the second half, the French immediately piled on pressure and appealed for a penalty in the 49th when a shot from close range from Henry appeared to hit Andre Ooijer's arm as he was falling down to block the shot.
"We were lucky," Van Basten admitted. "We stayed strong because of our guts. They walked through fire alongside one another and for one another."
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