CAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 24 (UPI) -- Robin van Persie scored a first-half goal and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the second, allowing the Netherlands to claim a 2-1 World Cup win Thursday over Cameroon.
The win cemented the Netherlands' (3-0-0) first-place finish in Group E. The Dutch are the second team to win all three of their group games, joining Argentina. Brazil and Chile will try to match the feat Friday.
The Netherlands move to a knock-out round game Monday against Slovakia, which defeated Italy 3-2 earlier Friday to earn its second-stage spot.
Cameroon ended Group E play 0-3-0. Japan's 3-1 win Thursday over Denmark allowed the Japanese (2-1-0) to also advance while the Danes (1-1-1) were third in the group.
Van Persie's goal came in the 36th minute on good teamwork. Dirk Kuyt and Rafael van der Vaart worked the ball with van Persie, who then ran a give-and-go and freed him on the right side.
Van Persie then drove the ball through the legs of Cameroon goalkeeper Hamidou Souleymanou.
Samuel Eto'o evened the score for Cameroon with 65th-minute penalty kick after van der Vaart was called for a hand ball. The goal made Eto'o the leading goal scorer in Cameroon team history.
But Huntelaar was able to give the Netherlands the win in the 83rd minute, putting away the rebound when a shot from Arjen Robben came back off the post.
