The Netherlands top the group after their 1-0 win over Japan in a fairly slow-paced, but decent enough game of football that saw pressure from both sides being applied. In the end though, the better team of the day won and will progress through to the next round.

The game started with both The Netherlands and Japan looking for their second win of the tournament and qualification through to the 2nd round of this years World Cup. After a pretty dismal opening period of the match, the second half really took off and it only took until the 52nd minute of the match before the Dutch broke down the Japanese defence to allow them to take the lead. Sneijder scored the goal, the only one of the match and put the Dutch into the lead.

After that an already lively match turned into a real game of football - one of the few so far in this years World Cup. Japan almost managed to score in retaliation in the 55th minute but a decent save kep the Netherlands in the lead. The Japanese side had a much greater sense of urgency in their game as they tried to draw back level.

Japan then displayed a sustained pressure on the Dutch goal and the Netherlands had some heavy defending to keep the Japanese players at bay with Stekelenburg clearing a few on goal shots.

In the 63rd minute, the former Celtic player, Nakamura replaced Matsui.

The match continues to to and fro with half chances from each side. The Netherlands probably looking the slightly better team of the two.

With only a minute to go, Japan had their best chance of the game to equalise but it wasn't to be as the ball slipped over the Dutch crossbar.

A fairly slow paced game overall with some great touches and a decent game at times but overall a cagey affair. Not the best entertainment ever but the Dutch did what they had to do to and The Netherlands rightfully take their place at the top of the Group E. Bert van Marwijk's team now have six points from a possible six to qualify for the knockout stages.

Bert van Marwijk will be happy with the Dutch performace though as he said before the World Cup started that he wasn't looking for brilliance in the group stages, all he wanted was for the team to qualify so they could then turn up the heat. It will be interesting to see who he plays in the 3rd and final Group E game for the Netherlands - he now has a number of choices and might play some of the reserve players to keep them sharp for the later stages.