The Netherlands made a successful start to their qualification campaign for the football 2010 World Cup on Wednesday evening with an 2-1 away win over Macedonia.

After a lacklustre first half in which Macedonia were unlucky to have a goal disallowed, the Dutch scored twice in the first 15 minutes after the break.
The goals came from defender Johnny Heitinga and midfielder Rafael van der Vaart. Macedonia put a late goal back through a penalty.
It was Holland’s first official match under their new manager Bert van Marwijk.