Netherlands 4 Romania 0

Robin Van Persie

Neth­er­lands 4 Ro­mania 0, Am­s­ter­dam Arena, FIFA Wor­ld Cup Quali­fier, Mar­ch 26, 2013. Man­chester United´s Robin van Per­sie hit a brace as Hol­land be­at Ro­manio 4-0. The Fly­ing Dutch­men were 1-0 up at the break thanks to Ra­fael van der Vaart, whi­le a double from Van Per­sie and a single by Jere­main Lens in the sec­ond pe­riod com­pleted the scoresheet. 

Robin van Per­sie came clo­se to scor­ing for the Neth­er­lands af­ter nine min­utes when his clo­se ran­ge shot flew a few in­ches over the cross­bar. The Dutch con­tin­ued their at­tack­ing play and Louis van Gaal´s men were re­war­ded when Hamburg´s Ra­fael van der Vaart opened the scor­ing ac­count for the ho­me te­am wi­th a well pla­ced ef­fort from out­side the 18-yard area in the 12th min­ute of the Wor­ld Cup Quali­fier in Am­s­ter­dam. Fol­low­ing the re­sump­tion, Van Per­sie made it 2-0 to the hosts as he head­ed ho­me a cross ball from Bay­ern Mu­nich flank for­ward Ar­jen Rob­ben el­ev­en min­utes in­to the sec­ond pe­riod. And nine min­utes la­ter, Van Per­sie com­pleted his brace when the no­tori­us goal plun­der­er net­ted from the spot af­ter PSV Eind­hoven wing­er Jere­main Lens had be­en bro­ught down in­side the pen­alty box. Lens then sco­red the fi­nal goal of the even­ing in the 90th min­ute of the en­counter as he fou­nd the back of the net from clo­se ran­ge af­ter Man­chester City and Ro­mania goal­keeper Costel Pantili­mon had failed to hold a shot from AZ Alkmaar´s Ad­am Maher.

A pro­lif­ic goal plun­der­er wi­th bo­th head and feet, Van Per­sie had made his seni­or de­but for the Neth­er­lands when he took the field as a sec­ond ha­lf re­place­ment for Man­chester Uni­ted for­ward Ruud van Nistel­rooy in a 2–0 Wor­ld Cup Qual­i­fy­ing win over Ro­mania at the Fey­enoord Sta­dium in Rot­ter­dam on the 4th of June 2005 and pro­ceeded to pro­duce his fir­st goal for his coun­try in a 4-0 Wor­ld Cup Qual­i­fy­ing vic­tory ag­ainst Fin­land at the Olympic Sta­dium in Hel­sinki four days la­ter. Neth­er­lands Te­am: Ken­neth Ver­meer, Stefan De Vrij, Daryl Jan­maat, Da­ley Bli­nd, Bruno Mar­tins Indi, Jon­athan De Guz­man, Ar­jen Rob­ben, Kev­in St­root­man, Ra­fael van der Vaart, Jere­main Lens, Robin Van Per­sie. Sub­stitutes: Maarten Stekelen­burg, Michel Vorm, Jor­is Math­ijsen, Ri­cardo Van Rhijn, Ron Vlaar, Jordy Clasie, Siem De Jong, Ad­am Ma­h­er, Ruben Schaken, Tonny Vil­hena, Ola John, Dirk Kuyt. Ro­mania Te­am: Costel Pantili­mon, Vlad Chiriches, Gab­riel Tamas, Razvan Rat, Flor­in Gar­dos, Al­ex­an­dru Bourceanu, Ad­ri­an Popa, Mi­hai Pin­tilii, Cris­ti­an Tanase, Ghe­orghe Grozav, Bog­dan Stan­cu. Sub­stitutes: Cipri­an Tatarusanu, Srd­jan Luchin, Alex­sandru Chip­ciu, Dra­gos Grigore, Al­ex­an­dru Max­im, Gab­riel Tor­je, Ad­ri­an Mutu, Claudiu Keseru, Stefan Radu, Raul Ruses­cu, Silviu Lung.

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