San Marino 0-5 Netherlands: Hattrick Hero Huntelaar Ensures Oranje Victory

'The Hunter' was well and truly on form tonight.

The Netherlands may have been the visitors tonight, but there was no surprise that they went into tonight's clash against San Marino as the clear favorites to pick up all three points.

And the Oranje did not disappoint, as a hat-trick from Schalke new boy Klass-Jan Huntelaar and a late goal from Ruud van Nistlerooy shored up an early penalty converted by Dirk Kuyt, spelling a 0-5 scoreline and three points in the Group E bag for the 2010 World Cup runners up.

Bert van Marwijk's side turned up the heat immediately, pressuring the hosts from the start. The early dominance allow Wesley Sneijder show his class, and the expert string-pulling resulted in a few early corners for the visitors, although nothing would come of them.

It didn't take long for the deadlock to be broken, however, as Davide Simoncini put in a challenge on Huntelaar in his own area bad enough for the referee to point to the spot. Liverpool workhorse Dirk Kuytwas charged with the task of burying the penalty, and he duly did so.

San Marino showed some heart midway through the first-half as strikes from Andy Selva and Manuel Marani both looked to trouble Maarten Stekelenburg. However, Ajax's number one was never in any real danger from strike force of the European minnows.

Marani soon turned into the villain though, as his foul on Van Bommel after 38 minutes resulted in a free-kick to the Oranje. Wesley Sneijder delivered the ball well enough forKlass-Jan Huntelaar to grab his first goal of the match, leaving La Serenissima reeling as they went in after half time.

Nigel De Jong was replaced by Rafael van der Vaart at the break, and Tottenham's latest bargain didn't take long to get in to the game, testing Aldo Simocini soon after taking to the pitch. With the second period warning shot fired, Huntelaar then found the net for the second time with 48 minutes on the clock.

It was a case of “who wants to score next?” after that point, as Sneijder, Kuyt and Huntelaar continued to pepper Simoncini's goal for the next twenty minutes with no reply. The sustained pressure proved fruitful once again as Huntelaar popped up again after 67 minutes to bag his hat-trick and prompting Bert van Marwijk to introduce Ruud van Nistlerooy into the game.

Even after a three substitutions and a bit of reshuffling amongst his ranks, San Marino coach Giampaolo Mazza was afforded no respite from the flurry of Oranje attacks.

After 91 minutes of sheer agony for the home side, all they wanted to hear was the final whistle, but Ruud van Nistlerooy would delay the end for a few moments, scoring an injury time goal to highlight his return to the Netherlands ranks, and put a neat little bow on the comprehensive Group E victory.