One minute from full-time, we were about to chalk this one up as the most outrageous 0-0 game for years. Then the De Boer brothers intervened. Second-half substitute Ronald was pulled down by Jiri Nemec inside the box and Frank converted the penalty.

The Dutch made the winning start to Euro 2000 which they needed, the Czechs left the field stunned by a defeat which they did not deserve - and everyone who saw the game wondered how the goal tally was kept to just one.

Even Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard admitted: 'We were very lucky in the second half. It seemed like we had a little angel sitting on our goal-line.'

Czech boss Jozef Chovanec was furious. 'That penalty was a scandal,' he said. 'I am sad. Several players are crying in the locker room right now, and it doesn't surprise me.'

For 45 minutes the Dutch pounded the Czechs in a manner which harked back to their glory days of the 1970s. Then, for much of the second half, Holland were on the receiving end of a hammering of even greater severity, as the unfancied visitors to Amsterdam suddenly woke up to the fact that they were in Euro 2000 on merit.

The Czechs hit the woodwork twice, while both goalkeepers made a series of excellent saves in a match which embodied both the strengths and weaknesses of this Dutch team.

When they are allowed to, they can be the best in the world. But not every team will be as accommodating as the Czechs were in the first half.

The visitors' record in qualifying and head-to-head encounters with the Dutch - they won all 10 group games and have beaten Holland six times, losing only two of 12 meetings - should have boosted confidence.

But into each optimistic soul a little realism must fall - and a glance at the Dutch teamsheet would strike terror into the hearts of most teams.

With Edgar Davids barging into the box and trying to run through defenders, then ghosting past Nemec and forcing Pavel Srnicek into a fine save - both in the first five minutes - the tone was set.

Sheffield Wednesday's Srnicek performed heroics in the first half. In the 13th minute he stopped a Dennis Bergkamp 20-yarder after Patrick Kluivert had seen a shot blocked by Tomas Repka. Within moments Srnicek dived to his right to tip a Kluivert drive away, recovering brilliantly to block Boudewijn Zenden's follow-up from a tight angle.

The Czechs were working hard to maintain some shape and discipline but, when Bergkamp won a free-kick with the most audacious piece of ball juggling on the touchline, it said everything about the gulf in class.

Just minutes before the Arsenal star had exposed left back Petr Gabriel with a turn of which even Cruyff would have been proud, although Johan would probably have scored instead of poking his shot wide.

To get an idea of the transformation undergone by the Czech Republic at half-time, think of the Incredible Hulk. Meek, mild-mannered, almost apologetic before the break, they reemerged ready to rage against the orange machine which had tortured them for 45 minutes.

With Pavel Nedved pushed into a more advanced role in support of giant striker Jan Koller, they created half a dozen scoring chances in 20 minutes - and, but for the woodwork, might have taken the lead twice.

Nedved hit the inside of the post with a glancing header, the ball almost spinning across the line, just before the hour mark. By then he had already driven in a low cross which Karel Poborsky missed by a stud length, tested Van der Sar with a left-foot shot and linked up beautifully with Koller in a move which ended with the forward forcing the goalkeeper into a world-class save.

A glancing header from Vladimir Smicer which went just wide and a shot from Nemec, against which the Dutch could offer only a Jaap Stam shot straight against Srnicek, told the story of Czech dominance.

When Koller hit the bar with a looping header from Poborsky's free-kick in the 63rd minute, however, the Czechs must have felt their luck was out.

Holland did reassert control in the closing stages and, when Nemec attempted to trade shirts with Ronald de Boer as the pair competed for a cross, referee Pierluigi Collina pointed at the spot.

In injury time, subbed defender Radoslav Latal was shown a red card on the bench for protesting about a foul, while Bejbl threatened an equaliser but just couldn't hit the target from a tight angle.

A quiet night all round, really.

Holland (4-3-2-1): Van der Sar; Reiziger, Stam (Konterman, 75min), Frank de Boer, Van Bronckhorst; Seedorf (R de Boer 57), Cocu, Davids; Bergkamp, Zenden (Overmars 78); Kluivert. Booked: F de Boer, Van Bronckhorst.

Czech Republic (4-5-1): Srnicek; Latal (Bejbl 69), Repka, Rada, Gabriel; Poborsky, Nedved (Lokvenc, 90), Nemec, Rosicky, Smicer (Kuka 83); Koller. Booked: Nedved, Poborsky, Repka. Sent off: Latal.

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)

Man of the match: Pavel Nedved