Holland beat Uruguay to make World Cup final

Dutch legend Ruud Gullit believes it will be third time lucky for Holland when they meet either Spain or Germany in Sunday's World Cup Final following their defeat of Uruguay in Cape Town last night. "We have been twice to the final," said Gullit, a member of the Dutch side which won the 1988 European Championship. "The difference is that this time we won't play the hosts - because in West Germany in 1974, we had to play against West Germany and in Argentina in 1978 we had to face Argentina. This is a great opportunity... everybody expects this to be the moment."

But if Holland are to finally become world champions they will have to play better on Sunday than they did for long stretches of last night's 3-2 victory over Uruguay. It wasn't until Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben scored within three minutes of each other in the second-half that the Dutch put clear water between themselves and the South Americans, but even then some sloppy defending in injury-time from Holland allowed Uruguay to reduce the score to 3-2, ensuring a frantic finale to the match.

A tentative opening to the game was blown away by Giovanni van Bronckhorst's magnificent 35-yard drive on 18 minutes. Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera was left flapping at thin air as the rasping shot crashed into the top left-hand corner for one of the most spectacular goals seen in a World Cup semi.

The goal failed to bring the game to life, however, and there was no great urgency to Uruguay as they strove to get back on level terms. Robben could have extended Holland's lead but Martin Caceres was on hand to deny the Dutch striker, but then on the stroke of half-time the South Americans equalized through Diego Forlan. The former Manchester United striker struck a speculative swerving shot from 25 yards that deceived Maarten Stekelenburg in the Holland goal.

The second half started slowly, though a Forlan free-kick forced a sharp save from Stekelenburg, before the Dutch finally came to life. On 70 minutes Sneijder drove an angled shot through a crowded penalty area that went in off the post, and three minutes later Robben used his head to turn Dirk Kuyt's cross into the bottom corner.

Robben should have made it four when he latched on to a delightful pass from Robin Van Persie, only to fluff his shot, and it was Uruguay who next found the net when Maxi Pereira fired home on 92 minutes. There were a couple more anxious minutes of stoppage time before the Dutch could start celebrating their first appearance in a World Cup Final for 32 years.

"We're in the Final – unbelievable!" exclaimed Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk afterwards. "When I took this job two years ago, I said to the players 'We're on a mission, and we just have to believe in ourselves'. We're only a small country but we're through to the Final, that's just unbelievable... I love beautiful football, but I also want to win. In the second half, we proved we're a decent footballing side. We took control of the match. We actually should have made it 4-1, but it was a close-run thing at the end."

Van Marwijk's Uruguayan counterpart Oscar Tabarez took the defeat with good grace, saying: "I'm proud of my players. We're disappointed, but we've shown everyone who wrote us off beforehand that we're not very far off the top. We gave it our best shot, but it wasn't quite enough... they battled right to the end. I can't ask for more than that, nor can the players, and nor can our country. It's the right result and we accept it." ·