Without making too much of a fuss, Holland are quietly emerging as one of the forces of this World Cup. Only Argentina can match their record of having won all their group games and each performance has been slightly better than their last, which is a good guide when it comes to picking teams that will travel a long  way in a tournament. The 2-1 win over Cameroon in Cape Town may have been a dead game but it allowed Arjen Robben nearly 20 minutes on the pitch and the Bayern Munich playmaker’s influence was obvious and when it came to hitting the post for Klaas Jan Huntelaar to drive home the winner, decisive. It was his first game since a hamstring injury in a World Cup warm-up with Hungary and his manager, Bert van Marwijk may resist the temptation to start him against Slovakia – if they get through Brazil are likely to be waiting for them in Port Elizabeth for the quarter-finals.

Having inflicted one of the upsets of this or any other World Cup, Slovakia cannot surely do it again? Logic says not – this is a team that failed to overcome New Zealand and lost to Paraguay before raising their game against the world champions to a level few, even in Bratislava thought them capable of. Their main weapon against the Dutch is self-belief and a realisation that nobody expects a repeat. “We couldn’t have dreamt of this,” said the Slovak striker, Robert Vittek, whose two goals were decisive against the fading Azzurri. “We have nothing to lose; we came here as outsiders and newcomers who wanted to surprise people. We have done that once and hope to do it again.” Whether it was because of the inadequacies of an Italy team that has been condemned in Rome as the worst ever to compete in a World Cup or their own heroics, Slovakia have more than achieved their goals in South Africa. The problem is raising themselves to do it again.

Nobody ever doubts the talent of Dutch sides at World Cups but they do question their attitude whether it comes in the shape of in-fighting or arrogance. Bert van Marwijk has succeeded in forging a rare sense of unity in the Dutch camp but he is fully aware of their tendency towards sloppiness, demonstrated when allowing Cameroon back into their final group game when they seemed on the point of collapse. Holland have invariably sailed through their group matches. In their entire World Cup history, they have only lost one – to Belgium in 1994 and Scotland in 1978. Their problems have tended to come later. In the 2006 World Cup they were beaten in the round of 16 by Portugal and suffered the same fate in Euro 2008 to Russia. However, the squad insist they have learned the lessons of those games and to ask Slovakia to raise their game again looks too much. Verdict: Holland to win.