Portugal ditch Dutch to take pole position

We had pondered all the permutations and how they would impact on Irish hopes in this daunting group, but few can have thought that Portugal would come to Feyenoord's imposing ground five days after a sapping draw at home to the Republic and triumph on the Dutchmen's favourite turf.

But that is just what Portugal did last night - emphatically so - and while Europe will look on in wonder at this result, the Portuguese will not be surprised. They have played The Netherlands six times now, all in the last decade, and have lost just once.

Four of those have been won by Portugal, including this magnificently professional deconstruction of a Dutch side lacking shape and inspiration.

Inevitably the stars of Portugal, Luis Figo, Rui Costa and the goalscoring Sergio Conceicao will attract the attention, and all three were superb here, but what is often overlooked about the Portuguese is the experience, determination and skill of their defenders. Last night it was Jorge Costa, Fernando Couto, Dimas and Secretario who were the heroes.

Not that they were under enormous pressure. But when called upon, the Portugal back-line won everything. Goalkeeper Quim never really made a decisive save all night. The Dutch had mountains of possession but an abscess of imagination. Rarely can it be said of the Netherlands that they had no Holland, but no-one ever suggested they could shoot from 30 yards in the manner of Matthew in Lisbon.

The iron Portugal defence gives their stars a platform. Onto it trod the little-known Pedro Pauleta drilling in an unstoppable second two minutes before half-time after Conceicao had rattled in the first in the 10th minute. the Netherlands were just rattled and they will need Jaap Stam to be around when these two meet again in March. Another Portugal victory then and the Netherlands will be in trouble.

"We are a very mature and confident side," said Portugal's manager Antonio Luis Oliveira. "I'm very proud of my players. I'm very happy to be top of the group, psychologically that is very important. But there is nothing decided yet. We have to keep focused."

As expected, both sides made changes from their matches last Saturday, the Dutch four, the Portuguese three. Most notably for Portugal Sa Pinto was dropped in favour of Pauleta. Pauleta plays for Bordeaux but has an English look about him. Strong and willing, he sat on Frank de Boer from the beginning and while Pauleta was to miss two useful chances in the opening half-hour he earned his place on sheer harassment value alone.

Bino was another who justified his selection quickly, doing the kind of apparently simple destructive work in front of defence that is so vital away from home.

If Bino's debut was remarkable then so was Chelsea's Mario Melchiot. Brought in by Louis Van Gaal at right back, Melchiot was one of a clutch of orange shirts that stopped playing in the 10th minute when a fierce whistle from a Dutch section of the crowd sounded like the referee's.

But the English referee Graham Poll, who also heard the whistle and saw the Holland players staring at him, waved play on indicating that he had not blown. Home hesitation proved to be calamitous. The ball went swiftly to Figo and his dagger pass pierced the Dutch defences. It reached Conceicao who surged into the area and beat the desperate lunge of Michael Reizeger and the thrust of Edwin van der Saar with his left foot shot.

The stunned orange masses found only meagre encouragement in the patchy response of their team. Marc Overmars pulled out of a potential scoring header when it seemed he might be crushed by the on-rushing Dimas, yet considering Van Gaal is famed for his systematic approach, there was surprisingly little coherence to their attacking.

Portugal picked them off. Even before the crucial second goal Figo had twice run away from his markers with his deceptive grace. The first cross Pauleta nodded weakly at, the second, a tempting volley, Pauleta fluffed.

But he was to make amends. Two minutes before the interval Reizeger tried to pass back to De Boer. Pauleta intercepted, rode a challenge from De Boer, steadied himself and watched Figo run to the left. De Boer was wrong-footed, Pauleta switched to the right and hammered the ball in. Van der Saar's dive was a gesture.

Van Gaal withdrew Overmars at halftime for the equally ineffectual Jeffrey Talan. With Edgar Davids under-achieving, there was an over-reliance on the corners of the otherwise anonymous Clarence Seedoorf. In the second half, once, when Quim flapped at one on the hour and Phillip Cocu mis-hit the rebound from six yards, did Holland come near to even pulling one back.

"If we had scored then it would have been different altogether," said Van Gaal to an unconvinced audience afterwards. He also mentioned injuries. "I think we were the better team in the first half, we created four chances. But they scored two goals. After that they controlled the game and in the second half we lost belief."

And the points. It's one from six at home to their two biggest rivals.

Netherlands: Van der Sar, Melchiot, De Boer, Cocu, Reiziger, Van Bommel (Bosvelt 72), Overmars (Talan 46), Davids, Kluivert (Vennegoor of Hesselink 65), Seedorf, Bouma.Portugal: Quim, Costa, Dimas, Secretario, Fernando Couto, Vidigal (Meira 90), Figo, Bino, Pauleta (Simao 90), Rui Costa (Sa Pinto 87), Conceicao.Referee: G Poll (England).