Van Nistelrooy seals Dutch win against Cameroon

Netherlands, May 27: Ruud van Nistelrooy struck midway through the first half to seal a 1-0 victory for the Netherlands over Cameroon in a World Cup warm-up match today.

Dutch coach Marco van Basten started with Robin van Persie on the right flank and the in-form Arsenal man proved a handful for the Cameroon defence.

First he combined with Mark van Bommel to create a chance for Van Nistelrooy who had his close-range effort saved by goalkeeper Idriss Kameni and he was involved again when Kameni denied Philip Cocu.

The winning goal arrived after 22 minutes when Cocu's long pass reached central defender Andre Ooijer and his header found Van Nistelrooy who converted the chance.

Cameroon's best chance came shortly before the interval when Osasuna's Pierre Webo got on the end of a pass by Salomon Olembe to force a fine reflex save from Edwin van der Sar.

Cameroon, who failed to qualify for the World Cup finals, had Alioum Saidou sent off late on.

The Dutch face Mexico on Thursday and Australia three days later in their final friendlies before kicking off their World Cup campaign against Serbia and Montenegro on June 11.

Reuters