Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two goals each as the Netherlands thumped Sweden 5-1 in Houston on Saturday to move top of Group F and put one foot in the World Cup knockouts.
Netherlands laid down a marker with a 5-1 victory over Sweden on Saturday to close in on qualification to the knockout stages from World Cup Group F.
Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo grabbed braces at the start of the first and second halves, respectively, before Anthony Elanga reduced the deficit for Sweden.
But a late Crysencio Summerville strike rounded off an impressive win for Ronald Koeman's team.
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Sweden, themselves 5-1 winners against Tunisia in their opening Group F match, went into Saturday's showdown with the Dutch in Houston knowing that a victory would guarantee their passage out of the group stage.
But Graham Potter's side were torn apart by a rampant Netherlands team, who roared into a 2-0 lead after just 17 minutes.
Denzel Dumfries had two assists, while Gakpo and Summerville each had one as the Netherlands took sole possession of the top spot in the group.
For Brobbey, it was just his second and third goals in an international competitive fixture. For Gakpo, it was his fourth and fifth all-time tallies in the competition after scoring once in each Dutch group-stage match at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
The Scandinavians weren't as poor as the final score indicated in their worst World Cup loss since a 7-1 defeat to hosts Brazil in the 1950 final round-robin stage.
Nevertheless, they absorbed the worst swing of results between two matches this tournament after a 5-1 opening win over Tunisia that precipitated the firing of Tunisian boss Sabri Lamouchi.
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Brobbey had his brace by the 17th minute.
In the fifth minute, his exceptional hold-up play helped turn a simple ball out of the back into a dangerous counterattack down the left.
From there, he literally outran centre backs Victor Lindelof and Isak Hien to reach Gakpo's low cross and thump in a first-time finish from close range.
On Brobbey's second, Sweden's defence gave Dumfries far too much space on the right, allowing the winger time to line up his first-time cross into the path of Brobbey, who again finished with his first touch.
Gakpo had his brace nine minutes into the second half, and after Elanga's 59th-minute tally, Summerville completed the scoring on a feed from substitute Memphis Depay in the 89th minute.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters)
