The Netherlands went through to the World Cup finals after a comfortable 2-0 win over the Czech Republic to clinch top spot in Group One. As a result of the Dutch win, Group Six sides England and Poland were also gifted places in the finals.

Rafael van der Vaart and Barry Opdam scored in the first half, after Edwin van der Sar had saved a Tomas Rosicky penalty, as the Dutch made it 15 games without defeat since Marco van Basten took over as coach in 2004.

Netherlands, who have 31 points from 11 games, are certain to finish top of the group.

"This is a great achievement and I'm very happy with our early qualification," said van Basten.

The third-placed Czechs (24 points) must win in Finland on Wednesday to clinch a playoff berth.

Romania (25 points), who have a superior head-to-head record against the Czechs, leapfrogged into second spot earlier in the day with a 1-0 win over the Finns in their final qualifier.

The Dutch were indebted to Manchester United goalkeeper van der Sar, who palmed away Rosicky's 30th-minute spot-kick and made several other fine saves.

"Certainly the penalty had a big influence on how things went," said Rosicky. "It gave them a boost and we saw what happened after that."

The Czechs went into the game with a depleted front line, forcing coach Karel Brueckner to play Milan Baros even though the Aston Villa forward had been troubled by a sore Achilles tendon.

Baros was a constant menace for the Dutch defence early on. Twice he appeared to be pulled down by Khalid Boulahrouz, only to see French referee Alain Sars wave play on.

The third time proved lucky for Baros when he went down in the box but van der Sar proved equal to Rosicky's penalty.

A minute later van der Vaart and Arjen Robben combined on the edge of the Czech area and the Hamburg midfielder's low drive evaded keeper Petr Cech's outstretched hand.

Opdam then rose high in the 38th minute to head the second goal from a Robben corner.

Van der Sar continued to excel in the second half, thwarting Baros and Rosicky as the Czechs surged forward.

Van Basten was delighted with his team's qualifying campaign.

"When we started we had no idea what to expect but in the last few matches we did very well although I have to say we had some lucky moments," he said.

"We had our tough moments but always proved we had a very strong team.

"In the first half (against the Czechs) we had some phases where we played good football like I want my team to do. After the interval we were a bit sloppy and failed to score extra goals."

Brueckner said he now wanted his players to concentrate on the Finland game.

"We didn't convert the critical situations and that's what decided the match," he said.

"I told the players to look ahead and not think any more about tonight's game. We have to focus on Wednesday's game.

"I believe we can win but it's not enough only to believe."

Adrian Mutu's 42nd-minute penalty gave Romania a 1-0 win over Finland in Helsinki and move his side into second ahead of the Czech Republic in Group One.

The Romanians have played all their games, but the onus is now on Karel Bruckner's Czech side to beat Finland in Helsinki on Wednesday to claim a place in the play-offs.