The two-time finalists laboured to a 3-2 victory over the South American nation to set up a final date with either Germany or Spain on Sunday.

Despite having not been at their best Holland find themselves one game away from winning their first ever World Cup having lost to Argentina and West Germany in their two previous finals.

Uruguay were missing four key players but pushed Holland all the way in Cape Town after recovering from a slow start and could have gone through themselves.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave Holland the lead with one of the goals of the tournament before Diego Forlan equalised.

The Dutch toiled for much of the second half until Wesley Sneijder (3/1 top goalscorer) got the breakthrough on 70 minutes.

Arjen Robben quickly followed that up with a third before Maxi Pereira set up a nervy end with his goal in injury time.

However, Uruguay couldn’t find a third goal to force extra time and their brave World Cup campaign was brought to an end after another defensive minded performance from the Dutch.

Van Marwijk has come in for some criticism for his style of play which goes against the free-flowing football fans have come to expect from the Oranje.

The Feyenoord manager has admitted his brand of football isn’t the most attractive but claims Dutch fans won’t care if they win the World Cup on Sunday night.

“It’s amazing that we have managed to do this. It’s been 32 years,” he said.

“It is unbelievable. We can be very proud for such a small country.

“After the second and third (goals) we should have scored a fourth. That would have prevented that final phase.

“But this is a World Cup. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it’s all about the result.”

No doubt Van Marwijk will be watching Wednesday’s second semi-final with avid interest to discover who they will face in Soccer City.

Germany (evens to reach the final) have looked good throughout the tournament while Spain have stumbled their way through the proceeding rounds at times.

However, La Furia will no doubt give the Germans a tough match and it should be a close game to decide who will contest the final.

Holland should be full of confidence whoever they face having won every match they have played in the tournament thus far.

The Dutch are now the 5/4 favourites with totesport to win the World Cup while Spain have gone to 2/1 and Germany 11/5.

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

The two-time finalists laboured to a 3-2 victory over the South American nation to set up a final date with either Germany or Spain on Sunday.

Despite having not been at their best Holland find themselves one game away from winning their first ever World Cup having lost to Argentina and West Germany in their two previous finals.

Uruguay were missing four key players but pushed Holland all the way in Cape Town after recovering from a slow start and could have gone through themselves.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave Holland the lead with one of the goals of the tournament before Diego Forlan equalised.

The Dutch toiled for much of the second half until Wesley Sneijder (3/1 top goalscorer) got the breakthrough on 70 minutes.

Arjen Robben quickly followed that up with a third before Maxi Pereira set up a nervy end with his goal in injury time.

However, Uruguay couldn’t find a third goal to force extra time and their brave World Cup campaign was brought to an end after another defensive minded performance from the Dutch.

Van Marwijk has come in for some criticism for his style of play which goes against the free-flowing football fans have come to expect from the Oranje.

The Feyenoord manager has admitted his brand of football isn’t the most attractive but claims Dutch fans won’t care if they win the World Cup on Sunday night.

“It’s amazing that we have managed to do this. It’s been 32 years,” he said.

“It is unbelievable. We can be very proud for such a small country.

“After the second and third (goals) we should have scored a fourth. That would have prevented that final phase.

“But this is a World Cup. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it’s all about the result.”

No doubt Van Marwijk will be watching Wednesday’s second semi-final with avid interest to discover who they will face in Soccer City.

Germany (evens to reach the final) have looked good throughout the tournament while Spain have stumbled their way through the proceeding rounds at times.

However, La Furia will no doubt give the Germans a tough match and it should be a close game to decide who will contest the final.

Holland should be full of confidence whoever they face having won every match they have played in the tournament thus far.

The Dutch are now the 5/4 favourites with totesport to win the World Cup while Spain have gone to 2/1 and Germany 11/5.

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Netherlands

Van Marwijk, whose team have now progressed to the next phase of the World Cup, says he is not bothered if his team have to fall back on defensive steel.

“I would love to win playing beautiful football but you have to deal with a rival that also wants to win,” said Van Marwijk.

“I think we played a match that was perhaps not as attractive as our previous games but it’s not easy to play matches here and I think we deserved the win.

“Of course, we want to win playing great football but the important thing is that we learn to win ugly games.

“Japan were very confident heading into this match and I knew beforehand that this was going to be a hard game.”

He added: “We came here to win a prize, to become world champions, now that’s far from straightforward and easy.

“If we can continue to show stability, and if we maintain confidence in really winning something, we might get far. So the target is to go for the prize.”

Two wins from two matches delighted the coach, particularly with other fancied teams having struggled.

“At this level, you see that no match is straightforward as has also been the case for other teams like England and Spain.

“In the first half, we went for depth but we didn’t get the ball to our forwards.

“At half-time I told my players they had to be careful. We needed to speed up our game and be opportunistic.

“I believe we did that in the second half.”

Japan coach Takeshi Okada was pleased with his side’s efforts.

“We played against a strong team and we wanted to have taken at least a point in this game.

“But my players did the best they could and we feel sorry for our fans.

“During the first half we frustrated Holland and I told my players to be courageous and aggressive when we have the ball.

“That is what they did, but we weren’t able to deliver the finishing touch.”

Wesley Sneijder scored the only goal of the game, the playmaker slamming his shot into the net off the keeper.

“What you need is a bit of luck,” said Sneijder. “And we ended up at 1-0 and I think, at the end of the match, we should have ended up with 2-0 or 3-0.”

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