Three goals in four second-half minutes allowed the Netherlands to stroll past Lithuania in Amsterdam and book their place at next year’s World Cup finals.

After a laborious opening 15 minutes, Tijjani Reijnders scored with Oranje’s first real chance. Frenkie de Jong latched on to a slow defensive ball and the Manchester City midfielder allowed the ball to run past him before shooting past the goalkeeper from close range.

Reijnders deserved a second when he hit the post with an outside-foot shot, while right-back Jurriën Timber had a strong chance for a penalty turned down and also went close just before half-time.

Lithuania’s first shot at goal came seven minutes into the second half, just before a trio of goals by the Dutch ended the match as a contest.

Cody Gakpo converted a penalty after the video referee spotted a glancing handball just before the hour. Two minutes later Xavi Simons made space for himself in the penalty area before smashing a shot into the top corner.

And almost directly after the restart Donyell Malen scored the best goal of the night, running from the halfway line and cutting inside a defender before firing home.

Valente debut

Reijnders had two chances to add to the score on 77 minutes but was unable to beat the goalkeeper with either his shot or the rebound. Shortly afterwards Simons was taken off to allow Ronald Koeman to give a debut to Feyenoord midfielder Luciano Valente.

Another substitute, Emmanuel Emegha, came closest to scoring a fifth when Matthijs de Ligt picked him out unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box, but his touch was too heavy.

Emegha had three more good chances in the closing minutes, the best of them in injury time when Noa Lang laid off a cross from Malen into the striker’s path, but Emegha put the ball over the bar.

The result means the Netherlands win Group G with a three-point margin over Poland, who go into the play-offs after winning their final match 3-2 away to Malta thanks to a late goal by Piotr Zielinski.