A fortunate goal early in the second half by Wesley Sneijder helped paper over the cracks for Holland and give them a barely deserved win over Japan.

Japan were organised and disciplined, stifling any attempt Holland made to approach their penalty area with menace.

Early on some moments of skill almost created something, such as Dirt Kuyt's acrobatic bicycle kick after 10 minutes which was blocked before it had a chance to test the underemployed Eiji Kawashima.

Less expected was, as the half went on, the complete inability of the Dutch to create chances through skill and invention, while Japan grew in confidence in attack.

The Asian side failed to produce any chances of note but they broke down the wings with enough regularity to worry Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk, while Daisuke Matsui, Yoshito Okubo and Keisuke Honda showed more invention than the much-hyped Oranje forward line.

In the end it took a goal every bit as lucky as that which sent them on their way to victory over Denmark in the first match of this group, although it was a goalkeeper not a defender that was on their side.

Sneijder's shot from 20 yards was well a well timed volley that swerved in the air, but Kawashima dived too far to his right and palmed the ball over his left shoulder and into the net.

It was not quite in the same category of horrors as that which Robert Green and Faouzi Chaouchi have entrants this tournament, but it was a serious error which Japan didn't deserve.

Having set out to contain it was difficult for Japan to turn into aggressors and, for all their effort, it took until injury time for a real chance to emerge when substitute Shinji Okazaki raced onto Honda's flick and struck a wild half-volley just over the bar.

Minutes before as Japan poured men forwards another lively substitute, Ibrahim Afellay, found himself through one-on-one with Kawashima twice but both times the goalkeeper was quickly off his line to block the low shots and prevent Holland from claiming an even more flattering victory.