Czech coach Jozef Chovanec couldn't hide his sense of injustice after a controversial 89th-minute penalty gave co-hosts Holland a 1-0 win in their opening Group D match.

'The penalty....I recommend you ask someone else,' he said after Italian referee Pierluigi Collina judged Jiri Nemec to have dragged Dutch substitute Ronald de Boer to the ground.

'It's a scandal. I saw a similar penalty against Turkey earlier today (in the game against Italy). I don't know what to think, I am sad. For me this is a scandal.'

Man-of-the-match Pavel Nedved said he was disappointed for the Czech followers who had made the long journey to the Netherlands. 'The whole world saw we were better than the Dutch, but thanks to a dubious penalty, they have three points and we have none,' he said.

The Czech misery was compounded by the bizarre injury-time red-carding of defender Radoslav Latal - 20 minutes after he had been substituted.

As their frustration boiled over, the Czech bench vented spleen on the fourth official after Dutchman Giovanni van Bronckhorst had been booked for fouling the outstanding 19-year-old midfielder Tomas Risicky.

Latal will miss his country's next match against world champions France on Friday - rough justice on the Czechs who dominated the second-half against Holland, twice striking the goalframe.

Chovanec said he felt the red card was an overreaction from Collina, the bald headed Italian who is one of the world's best known referees.

'I don't think our player broke the rules. He was standing in the dug-out and he didn't come out of the technical area,' Chovanec told reporters. It was not necessary to give him this penalty.'

Unsurprisingly, the Dutch were happy about the late penalty award. 'He [Nemec] pulled my shirt and was there looking me straight in the face,' Ronald de Boer said.

While split on the penalty, the Dutch acknowledged they were lucky to win and were outplayed in the second half. It was a small miracle,' said Clarence Seedorf.

The co-hosts will be furter pleased that defender Jaap Stam should be fit for their next game against Denmark on Friday.

The Manchester United defender had several stitches inserted on the touchline in the hope he could return to the field, only to be thwarted.

He said: 'My eye was cut open and the ref told me to go off because I was bleeding. We tried to get back on with the stitches but I felt dizzy and my vision was not completely clear so we did not risk it.

'It feels better now and I don't think its a problem for Friday against Denmark.'.

Stam said of the win over the Czechs: 'We missed too mamy chances and we were very lucky they did not socre. We should try to control 90 minutes, not just one half.'