Holland despatched France 4-1 in the match of the tournament so far. The result ensures that they will win Group C regardless of the outcome of their meeting with Romania – a scenario that effectively takes Italy’s fate at Euro 2008 out of their own hands.

It was a game that France simply had to win, and the return of Thierry Henry had boosted their morale. Meanwhile, Holland’s opening display against Italy suggested they could be considered the new favourites for the tournament.

The tone was set for the encounter within the first five minutes as French midfielder Claude Makelele delivered a cynical block on Dutch counterpart Dirk Kuyt. Referee Herbert Fandel chose to keep his cards in his pocket, but it was a decision that lit a fire under the Oranje army.

In the 10th minute the Liverpool midfielder got his revenge as he stole in to head past Gregory Coupet from a Giovanni Van Bronckhorst corner. With Florent Malouda pulling and tugging him all over, the blonde bomber did well to free himself in order to net on the occasion of his 40th Dutch cap.

Holland’s confidence was sky-high and Wesley Sneijder lashed in a fierce shot shortly after which swirled just over the French bar. Raymond Domenech’s men appeared shell-shocked and were struggling to find their shape and rhythm, with the fear of a last day winner-takes-all clash against Italy already beginning to form in their minds.

The passing from Marco Van Basten’s side was sublime and in the 18th minute an intricate maze of triangular passing pin-balled their possession to the verge of the box where only a last ditch block from Lilian Thuram prevented Ruud Van Nistelrooy snatching a shot at goal.

Moments later Thuram inadvertently headed in to the path of Kuyt who somehow managed to redirect the ball with a hooked shot that just evaded the frame of the goal. For the first 20 minutes it was an orange onslaught.

Finally, France began to show some life as Sydney Govou wriggled free from his marker and forced Edwin Van Der Sar to react, before minutes later a quick one-two with Henry threatened to set the Lyon striker free before a burly Dutch interception halted the move.

The match took a twist for the surreal on the half hour mark as the increasingly dirty Makelele flashed a flailing arm in to the face of Rafael Van Der Vaart in the centre of the park. He received a yellow card for his effort but somehow also won the resultant free-kick from the man in black.

Small victories can be pivotal in the bigger picture and in the moments following that incident France twice tested the attention of Van Der Sar, a ‘keeper not averse to spilling long-range efforts. Firstly Govou and then Franck Ribery zipped shots along the turf but the Dutch net-minder was wide awake to both – but Les Bleus engine was finally starting to chug in to life.

On 37 minutes Ribery escaped down the flank, latching on to a Govou pass, and his whipped cross just eluded both Henry and Malouda. At the other end Sneijder let loose with another powerful effort from outside the box, which Coupet dealt with. The ‘end-to-end’ philosophy had not been better demonstrated in the tournament.

However, it was a fleeting flurry of fantasy football and as the half petered out the tempo dropped. It seemed that a crucial spell of play was beginning – where a goal for either side could have swung the match pendulum. Alas, no more net-ripplers emerged and the sides headed down the tunnel with Holland 1-0 up.

France were out of the traps much quicker after the interval, Ribery firing across the goal and then Henry seeing his shot during a penalty area skirmish hit Andre Ooijer’s hand. A penalty was claimed but Mr Fandel waved away French appeals – nevertheless the Cockerels had their dander up and for the first time Holland looked flustered.

Shortly after a tussle between Henry and Ooijer saw the Dutchman enter the book. The finger of fate had truly spun towards France and on 54 minutes Henry found himself clean through on goal, but this is not the Thierry of old and he didn’t have the va-va-voom to finish the job – his chipped shot going far too high.

Just before the hour though the Dutch opened their magic box. Van Nistelrooy pirouetted on the ball on the halfway line to set Arjen Robben free, the Real Madrid winger bursting down the flank before crossing for fellow substitute Robin Van Persie whose sweet connection was palmed by Coupet but still agonisingly squirmed over the line for 2-0.

As France pushed on looking for a way back Holland began to look increasingly dangerous on the counter, but in 90 breathtaking seconds of madness the game took a whirlwind turn. At one end Willy Sagnol overlapped beautifully to create space and cross for Henry to redirect the ball with the slightest of touches beyond a helpless Van Der Sar.

But before the French fans had a chance to sit down after their celebrations Robben had zipped away down the wing at the other end. After a brief dilly-dally in the area to consider his way around William Gallas he unleashed an impossible shot from the tightest angle into the roof of the net – the two-goal margin was restored.

The French were shell-shocked and their efforts became more scrappy and desperate. Holland on the other hand continued to excite and entertain whenever play allowed them to. On 83 minutes a long ball forward to Van Nistelrooy allowed the equine attacker to attempt a lobbed header, only an outstretched Coupet arm managed to flick the bouncing ball around the post.

Shortly after Van Bronckhorst fired a cross-field pass for Van Persie, which forced Coupet to race out to clear the ball. It was going to take a second ‘Miracle of Berne’ for Domenech’s boys to salvage anything from the game.

The miracle never came though and in injury time Sneijder struck a brilliant shot beyond Van Der Sar – meaning that the Netherlands have put seven past the two 2006 World Cup Finalists.

The result ensures that Holland win Group C, and they now have an interesting dilemma. Van Basten holds a sword of Damacles over the heads of both France and Italy going in to the final double-header of matches. If they were to take their foot off the gas against Romania, and lose, they would still go through as group winners but importantly they would also eliminate two deadly rivals by aiding Romania’s path in to the quarter-finals.

Could we be about to see Italy fall victim to another Euro stitch-up?
Holland: Van Der Sar; Boulahrouz, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst; De Jong, Engelaar (Robben 46); Kuyt (Van Persie 55), Van Der Vaart (Bouma 78), Sneijder; Van Nistelrooy

France: Coupet; Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas, Evra; Makelele, Toulalan; Govou (Anelka 75), Ribery, Malouda (Gomis 60); Henry

Ref: Fandel (Ger)

Ref From channel4.com