Another memorable day to set alongside the best in the European championships saw Holland deliver on their rating as the team to beat with a breathtaking performance in Rotterdam's Feyenoord Stadium.

At times it was awesome as the Dutch cut loose and goals came in a manner which caught precisely the mood in a stadium which rocked with the sound of an expectant crowd.

Patrick Kluivert, at the summit of a career which has encompassed some magical moments, led the charge with four-strikes, one of them with the help, it seemed, of Yugoslav defender, Dejan Govedarica, which simply ripped the heart from a demoralised Yugoslav team.

And when Kluivert was withdrawn after 59 minutes to afford manager Frank Rijkaard a chance of looking at Roy Makaay, Marc Overmars assumed the role of tormentor-in-chief with two goals of equal skill to complete the biggest win in the history of the tournament. "This was a victory for the team rather than any individual," said manager Frank Rikjaard. "No player, not even Kluivert, can score four times, if others don't give you the ball."

It would be easy to dismiss this as a massive mismatch. But that would be to overlook the merits of a side which against Spain four days earlier had dredged up substantial quantities of resilience.

Now they were reduced to a rubble as the landmines exploded all round them and in the end, they were betraying all the signs of men who couldn't wait to escape to the sanctuary of the dressing-room.

Just a couple of yards further down the corridor, the Dutch pavilion resounded to the laughter of players who may have surprised even themselves with the quality of their display.

From goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar out, there wasn't an apparent flaw in their team. True, their defence seldom came under any real pressure but the manner in which Jaap Stam and Frank de Boer shut out the feared partnership of Savo Milosevic and Predrag Mijatovic, augurs well for the remainder of the week.

Essentially the strength of the team resides in its spine. And yet, the contributions of the two wide players in midfield, Overmars and Boudewijn Zenden was never less than significant.

Zenden's rate of development over the last fortnight has been spectacular and while he didn't figure among the scorers, he was responsible for much that mattered.

Yugoslavia capitulated without ever resorting to the dark tactics which had earlier brought them into so much disrepute. That was refreshing but in the end, it was probably the only credit they could extract from a miserable day.

Even Dragan Stojkovic, their pivotal player, was reduced to anonymity on a day when they never came to terms with the challenge of clamping down on Edgar Davids and Philip Cocu in the critical battle for midfield control.

In a setting designed to restore one's faith in football, it was the Dutch who caught fire direct from the kick-off. Fulfilling their match plan to the letter, they were asking questions of the Yugoslav defence almost immediately, with Davids and Cocu providing the platform for the early surge.

Yet, it was Yugoslavia who created and then spurned the first genuine chance. Milosevic, on the burst, left Paul Bosvelt for dead, only to hold his head in anguish when Mijatovic fired the shot directly at the goalkeeper.

A goal then might have been the prologue for a different plot but in the event, the Dutch recovered from that early escape to run the game in a manner which suggested pedigree and passion. The Yugoslavians were thoroughly outplayed.

Bergkamp, twice, and Davids both should have have got their names on the scoresheet before Kluivert, irrepressible on the day, struck for the first time in the 23rd minute. Bergkamp curved the ball into the six-yard area and Kluivert, at pace, first killed it and then adroitly hooked it past Kralj.

That was an exemplary lesson in the art of finishing and to prove it was no accident, he repeated it seven minutes before halftime. This time, it was his blinding pace which took him between the two central defenders, just in time to convert Davids' cross into a superb goal.

At that stage, the Dutch were precocious enough to go to war with Mike Tyson. And with their self-belief growing by the minute, they simply destroyed the Yugoslav challenge with two goals, created by Zenden and converted with superb authority by Kluivert early in the second half.

Zenden, swapping wings, first provided the cross from which just the striker just got the first touch ahead of Saveljic to leave Krajl stranded and then, reverting to more familiar surrounds on the left, again embarrassed Saveljic to invite he decisive finish from Kluivert.

Kluivert later admitted that it was Govedarica's boot which defected the ball in for his third goal but subsequent enquiries revealed that the Spanish referee, Jose Maria Garcia had credited it to the Dutch player.

Overmars' goals in the 77th and 89th minutes rewrote the record for the championship, rendering Milosevic's injury-time reply of mere academic importance.

It was as fluent and final as that. The last vestige of resistance had been being wrung from the Yugoslav team. And now the question is - can anybody stop the roll of the Orange?