Holland won a place in the finals of the European 2008 football championships on Saturday with an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Luxembourg.

Danny Koevermans, the PSV Eindhoven striker, scored the winning goal in his first full game with the national Dutch team. 'It was like a boyhood adventure story,' he told reporters after the match.

But Koevermans admitted that the Dutch should have scored more goals against lowly-ranked Luxembourg.

Holland missed several good chances in the first half and were lucky to survive two good scoring opportunities for Luxembourg towards the end of the second half.

The game did nothing to dispel criticism of coach Marco van Basten's tactics. Lacklustre performances against inferior opponents have taken the shine off the country's successful qualification process.

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