The South Koreans must have wondered what curse of the old port had befallen them. For half an hour or more in Marseille on Saturday night they bailed water with furious valour. Then they went down swiftly and bravely but with the knowledge that their disappearance below the waterline was the spectacle we had come to see.

What a guilty thrill to see it turn out this way to feel a little visceral kick everytime the Dutch punched another hole in the hull of South Korea's confidence. It was beautiful and compelling this sad sinking of South Korea's hopes, the humiliation inflicted was undeniable but irresistible.

We sensed that this might be a night of rare unity and quick step beauty from the Dutch when we watched them in the minutes before the curtain went up. Arthur Numan, the doughty full back, walked around his team hugging each of them except the perennial bad boy Davids who needs tougher love. They looked free of the virulent rancour which has debilitated them so often in the past.

The opening exchanges passed like small talk between disparate intellects. The South Korean's struggling to look composed as the depth got beyond them. There were worrying signs everywhere. Overmars skipped right across the face of their penalty area before essaying a shot.

On eight minutes the South Koreans found a little outlet of hope themselves, however. Do Hoon Kim broke through at an angle and his shot crashed against the side netting silencing the Dutch choirs in an instant, as if the director had run out of soundtrack.

Ominously, however, the genius of Bergkamp was showing no signs of having withered during seven weeks of inactivity. On 17 minutes he tunnelled through on the right jinking through the middle of two defenders before cutting back and jinking through them again just for fun before laying on a low pass for Jonk whose shot was saved.

Through all the frenzy of the opening round, the little sprees by Salas and Vieri and the opening of Ronaldo's account it has been easy to forget that the quiet dutchman possesses the flair and the wit to become the absolute star of the tournament.

On past the border of the 20th minutes and the South Korean goalie was already drawing whistles of derision for time wasting. He was postponing the inevitable, poor soul 22 minutes gone and Bergkamp whipsawed one over the woodwork. A minute later Davids whistled another shot just wide.

Minutes later Choi Yong Soo was booked for time wasting. Having been awarded a free-kick, he stood contemplating the ball for so long that only making it levitate would have spared him the yellow card. The Dutch were growing impatient and when a dinky back-heeled goal from Overmars was scrubbed for an infringement we knew the real business of the evening was at hand.

They began with two quick swishes within the space of five minutes as the first half was drawing down. Cocu from 25 metres out, taking express mail from the impeccable Bergkamp out right. Whoomph!

Five minutes later Overmars and a thing of beauty. Wim Jonk trapped the ball beautifully in the centre circle and while the Korean midfield swooned he advanced twenty yards before elegantly offering it like a cocktail to Overmars; 2-0 and three minutes to half-time.

After the break the Dutch played with a dashing confidence, sweeping the ball around as unharried as golfers working through the kinks in a swing. Bergkamp added a third on a night of personal triumph for himself when Winter found him. Bergkamp cast off a couple of shimmies to fool Lee Min-sung and Kim Tae Young then popped it to the goalies right.

Van Hooijdonk replaced the tiring Bergkamp in the 78th minutes but claimed the legacy by scoring 60 seconds later. Overmars crossed to the far post. Van Hooijdonk did what he does best.

And then with seven minutes left Ronald de Boer from another perceptive little pass by Jonk to effortlessly eliminate a mountain of work and then hit a powerful little half volley to the net.

So the Dutch are into their stride. Davids and Jonk looked as good a central midfield pairing as we have seen all tournament. Up front they loom irresistible with, Overmars cutting across goals and Cocu and Bergkamp quick and slithery as fish. And they have yet to concede a goal.

"Once we went ahead I always knew we would score more, said Guus Hiddink afterwards "It's good that there were five scorers, it's always good not to depend on one player for your goals. You have to be flexible, we have shown we can do that. I'm sure there will be a few small things we can improve on."

Nobody could really see what those things might be but the thought that the Dutch might just get better went running down around the body of the World Cup like a shiver.

South Korea coach Cha Bumkun was sacked yesterday after his side were thrashed 5-0 by the Netherlands and eliminated from the World Cup finals.

His dismissal comes 24 hours after Carlos Alberto Parreira was sacked by Saudi Arabia after they too failed to make it past the first round.

Organisers said Cha had been informed yesterday morning of the decision to sack him.

South Korea were beaten 3-1 by Mexico in their opening game.