Holland won their opening World Cup Group C game 1-0 win over Serbia & Montenegro in Leipzig thanks to a first-half Arjen Robben strike.

The Dutch were in the driving seat after 18 minutes when Robin van Persie sprung the offside trap and set Robben away just inside the Serb half. The Chelsea man left his marker for dead and slotted calmly past Dragoslav Jevric to put Holland 1-0 up.

The Serb defence just couldn't contain Robben and he hit a wicked shot on 21 minutes that Jevric did well to parry for a corner. But, and this became a recurring theme during the game, the corner was wasted and the ball went out for a goal-kick.

Holland had all the possession in the first half but the Serb defence was stoic and the Dutch were finding it hard to carve out chances.

Wesley Sneijder and Robben worked tirelessly to pick out chances for Ruud van Nistelrooy and van Persie, but neither of the front two were having any joy.

Despite creating very few chances, Holland controlled the first half and were looking good for their 1-0 lead.

But, as the game neared half-time, Serbia replaced Nenad Djordjevic with Ognjen Koroman and the substitute had an immediate impact as he hit a snap shot over Edwin van der Sar's crossbar.

The ineffective Savo Milosevic was replaced by Nikola Zigic at half-time as Serbia looked to try break the Dutch defence down with the long ball. The new tactic appeared to be working as Serbia started to take control of the match, but they couldn't create any noteworthy chances and Holland soaked up their attacks with relative ease.

As the half progressed Serbia began to wilt, both physically and mentally, and Holland regained their grip on the game, calmly passing the ball along the back four as the Serb attackers grew more desperate in their search for an equaliser.

Koroman hesitated as Zigic flicked a ball on in the area and a good chance went begging and then, in the final minutes, Zigic himself was guilty of not adding the killer touch as the ball flashed across the Dutch six-yard box.

Holland's best chance of the half came when van Persie whipped in a free-kick from the edge of the area that Dirk Kuyt somehow failed to turn into the net.