Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk seems to have built a solid framework for his team, who cruised to a 4-1 World Cup warm-up win over Ghana on Tuesday.
Dirk Kuyt cut in from the right flank to open the scoring after half-an-hour when he netted a rebound after goalkeeper Richard Kingson blocked a shot from Robin van Persie.
The Dutch added three more in the last 20 minutes although a defensive blunder by Joris Mathijsen allowed Asamoah Gyan to pull a goal back five minutes after Rafael van der Vaart had doubled the home side’s lead in the 73rd minute.
Wesley Sneijder then got the best goal of the night against a disappointing World Cup-bound Ghana side when he volleyed home from a Van der Vaart corner from outside the area.
Striker Van Persie added a fourth from the penalty spot, his third goal in two matches, after Kingson fouled Van der Vaart.
“We were patient against opponents who use the counter attack although our build up lacked pace,” Van Marwijk said. “If you play with a lot of creative players who all come onto the ball it is hard to [find space] near the goal but today we did very well and had depth to our game.”
“It was a pity we conceded a goal as we hardly gave away anything but it was just a breakdown in communication,” he said.
With only Arjen Robben missing, with a minor hip strain, Van Marwijk gave midfielder Ibrahim Afellay a run out and reserve goalkeepers Michel Vorm and Sander Boschker played a half each.
The coach had named his 23-man squad for the finals on May 27, the day after Netherlands beat Mexico 2-1 with a Van Persie double in a friendly played in Freiburg, Germany.
They host Hungary on Saturday in their final warm-up match before traveling to South Africa, where they face Denmark on June 14 followed by Japan and Cameroon in Group E.
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