SOCCER NETHERLANDS 4 FRANCE 1:HOW FITTING Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty should be marked by a game between the two countries that voted down the constitution it replaced three years ago.

Maybe it was the sense of occasion, but they put on a bit of a show too, one side looking to pick up where they had left off against the Italians, the other clearly having woken up to the fact that going head-to-head with the world champions for a place in the next round is not a strategy designed for surefire success.

That, though, is what Raymond Domenech's side will have to do and not even a win in Zurich will guarantee either side a place in the last eight. The Dutch, who won here and secured their own place in the quarters thanks to cracking goals from Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder as well as yet more outstanding goalkeeping by Edwin van der Sar, must do them a favour.

The inability of the French players to "express themselves" against the Romanians now threatens to be remembered as the start of a one-way trip back across the border and home.

All of which would be easier to get upset about had they shown the enterprise in their opening game that we saw here in an open and often thrilling contest.

Domenech made three changes to the side that drew on Monday - Patrice Evra, Sidney Gouvet and Thierry Henry replacing Eric Abidal, Karim Benzema and Nicolas Anelka - and all improved the team. Clearly the depth of the talent available to the coach didn't extend to a ready alternative to Florent Malouda, which is a pity because he was again fairly awful.

What he and his team-mates did do was create enough chances between them to win most matches several times over. Van der Sar was in inspired form, though, and when Malouda did provide a moment of genius to release Henry with an overhead kick early in the second half, the Barcelona striker provided damning evidence of his decline by hopelessly misjudging his attempt to lob the onrushing goalkeeper.

Malouda's more telling contribution to the match had been to allow Dirk Kuyt a free header when helping defend Rafael van der Vaart's 10th-minute corner from the right. The Liverpool striker turned the ball cleanly home as the Chelsea winger did no more than try to push him back, and from that moment on the French were trying to claw their way back from behind.

That's clearly not a good position to be in against a nation who, while long Europe's ultimate exponents of attacking football, have on the evidence of this performance become the continent's most brilliant counter-attacking unit.

Though they might not have survived the prolonged spells of French pressure had it not been for van der Sar's excellence, their three second-half goals were all superb. And though their tally amounted to an almost 100 per cent conversion rate - only Ruud van Nistelrooy's brilliantly improvised looping header, which Gregory Coupet managed to touch on to his post and behind, stands out as an attempt on goal not scored - they undoubtedly deserved their victory.

Though France had pushed relentlessly for an equaliser with Franck Ribery directing operations once again, the Dutch worked tirelessly to keep them at bay until the opportunity to grab a second arose. Both of the key men involved were substitutes, Robben sprinting down the left flank and then whipping in a low cross for van Persie to turn home from close range.

Momentarily, the French thought they were back in it when Willy Sagnol's low, curling cross from the right eluded Joris Mathijsen's attempted intervention and Henry got the touch that guided the ball to the bottom left corner.

But straight from the kick-off Holland's two-goal lead was restored, with the ball moved at stunning speed through the centre before being fed to Robben, who held off Lillian Thuram to send a fierce, angled shot to the roof of the net. The defeat all but guaranteed at that point, the French looked utterly deflated, but Sneijder rounded off one of several superb individual Dutch displays with a spectacular turn and strike from 25 yards out that soared past Coupet and in off the underside of the bar.

The future, it seems, is Oranje.

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

NETHERLANDS:Van der Sar; Boulharouz, Ooijer, Mathijsen, van Brockhorst; de Jong, Engelaar (Robben, half-time); Kuyt (van Persie, 55 mins), van der Vaart (Bouma, 78 mins), Sneijder; van Nistelrooy.

Referee:H Fandel (Germany).