Ruud van Nistelrooy's first-half goal was sufficient to earn Holland a 1-0 win over Cameroon in a pre-World Cup friendly at Feyenoord's De Kuip stadium on Saturday night.

Alioum Saidou was sent off in the closing minutes for dissent for Cameroon, who were pipped to a place in the finals by the Ivory Coast - one of Holland's three Group C opponents in the World Cup.

Van Nistelrooy missed an early chance when his point-blank effort was well saved by Carlos Kameni after a cross from Robin van Persie.

Then Van Persie's pace created a chance of Phillip Cocu whose shot was fisted away by Kameni.

Van Nistelrooy's goal came in the 24th minute after good work from Andre Ooijer of PSV Eindhoven who headed the ball into his path after a long ball from the back by Joris Mathijsen.

It will be a fillip for the Manchester United forward who remains coach Marco van Basten's preferred option up front despite his problems with club boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

Also impressive were Van Persie and Arjen Robben who both played off Van Nistelrooy who was the target man.

Van Persie's selection had raised eyebrows as he was playing instead of local favourite Dirk Kuyt who had been one of Van Nistelrooy's foils in qualifying.

The Oranje had the bulk of the player and kept peppering the Cameroon goal with shots.

The best chance for the Africans was a Pierre Webo effort which was kept out by Edwin van der Sar.