Netherlands hit four in Hungary

Goals from Rafael van der Vaart, Ibrahim Afellay, Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie powered the Netherlands to a convincing victory in Hungary to double their UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group E lead to six points.

Cool finishes from Van der Vaart eight minutes in and Afellay on the stroke of half-time bookended a first half in which the dominant visitors laid the foundations for the win. Kuyt and Van Persie then doubled the advantage by the 62nd minute as the Dutch stretched their perfect start to five victories.

Hungary opened in lively fashion but their early spirit was punctured when Van der Vaart controlled a through ball from Wesley Sneijder and fired a left-foot shot past Gábor Király in the home goal. The Oranje dominated from then on. Király parried a Sneijder free-kick in the 26th minute and Afellay sliced wide when sent clear after a surging run by Van Persie. The pressure told in the 45th minute when right-back Gregory van der Wiel picked out Afellay with a superb pass across the penalty area and the FC Barcelona midfielder drove wide of Király.

Bert van Marwijk's men continued attacking with intent from the restart with Király stretching to keep out a Van Persie drive. Not long afterwards, though, Van Persie raced onto a perfect through ball from Sneijder and squared across the on-rushing Kiraly to Kuyt who side-footed the ball into an empty net.

It was soon four as Persie finished off another slick Netherlands move when the excellent Van der Wiel carried the ball into the area and fed the Arsenal FC striker who slotted home his side's final goal. Sneijder almost made it five for the rampant visitors two minutes later when he grazed the crossbar with a long-range lob but the damage was done by then.

The two teams meet again in Amsterdam in four days' time when second-placed Hungary will be desperate to avoid a sixth straight defeat against their hosts – who have won 19 of their last 20 competitive games, the only exception being the FIFA World Cup final.