Netherlands come up trumps against Estonia

The Netherlands maintained their perfect record in FIFA World Cup qualifying Group D, beating Estonia with three second-half goals at the Amsterdam ArenA.

First-half substitute Rafael van der Vaart made the breakthrough, further strikes from Robin van Persie and Feyenoord winger Ruben Schaken completing a comfortable win for Louis van Gaal's new-look Netherlands side.

While goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer, Daley Blind and Jonathan De Guzman all made just their second appearances for the home team, there was plenty of seasoned talent going forward, with Wesley Sneijder, Van Persie and Arjen Robben boasting 226 caps between them. However, while the Oranje dominated possession from the off, they struggled to break down defensive-minded opponents, the main drama of the first half an injury to Sneijder that forced his replacement by Van der Vaart in the 36th minute.

Konstantin Vassiljev had tested Vermeer with a shot just before the break, but the Netherlands regained full control after half-time. Within two minutes of the restart, Daryl Janmaat fed the ball to Van der Vaart who turned and fired into the net with his left foot despite the attentions of two defenders.

Feyenoord right-back Janmaat then set up Van Persie for his 32nd international  goal 18 minutes from time, the Manchester United FC man finishing with his left foot just in front of the goalkeeper. Van Persie provided the assist for the Oranje's third, substitute Ruben Schaken having the honour of scoring his country's 1,500th international goal.