Dutch delight as local media trumpets victory

SALVADOR Brazil (Reuters) - Dutch delight screamed out from the pages of their newspapers on Saturday as the country basked in the afterglow of a thrilling win over holders Spain at the start of their World Cup campaign. “What a hero” wrote the Algemeen Dagblad, which ran an almost full-page picture of Arjen Robben, who scored twice in the 5-1 victory at the Fonte Nova arena at the start of Group B. “A dream start,” trumpeted De Telegraaf, adding that the result was revenge for the defeat by Spain in the 2010 final. De Volkskrant also had the same lead headline, showing a flying Robin Van Persie scoring a remarkable headed first goal.

“Super sensation was written in Salvador according to the master plan of coach Louis van Gaal," said the paper.

"It was one of the most memorable matches in the team's World Cup history, even in the history of the tournament itself. It was hard to believe... but true." The business daily NRC Handelsblad said Van Gaal had shown he had few equals for tactical acumen in engineering the win. Algemeen Dagblad added that the unexpected victory was also a triumph for the Dutch league, whose clubs provided six of the starting lineup. It pointed out that the five defenders - four from Dutch clubs - had 88 caps between them, far fewer than the 117 won by Spain fullback Sergio Ramos alone.

“Yet for all their inexperience, the (Dutch) defence did not put a foot wrong,” the paper said. Willem van Hanegem, who played in the Netherlands' 1974 World Cup final defeat by West Germany, said the Dutch proved Spain could be rolled over by putting pressure on them.

“(Gerard) Pique and Ramos had a really hard time and I found that great for our team,” he wrote in a column.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)