FOOTBALL can be a deceptive game. Had Mark Hughes converted a six yard chance to put Wales 2-0 ahead after an hour on Saturday night, Sunday morning's story could well have been one of Welsh sweat gloriously triumphing over Dutch style.

Hughes missed, the Dutch eventually did not and so victory was prevented from masking a multitude of sins.

"I have to ask," said the manager Bobby Gould yesterday, "do the Wales players know the game as well as the Dutch players. And I would have to say we're 20 years behind them. It comes down to ball retention, passing, making angles off the ball and the players Just understanding what they're trying to do. Unless we get some answers, we're not going to France."

One could be cynical and say his criticism was designed to deflect blame from himself if it were not for the fact that anyone who saw Wales' performance knows he is right. Holland dominated the match with a characteristically easy invention and effortless techinique that undermined all talk of injuries and turmoil. And the Welsh, despite a fighting spirit that kept the Dutch goalless for 72 minutes, looked like a Ford Escort trying to win a grand prix.

Gould blames the problem on a long term lack of investment in Welsh coaching.

Such inexperience meant, for instance, that when Wales did get the ball, few players knew how to keep it, even if it was just to give a breather to a beleaguered defence. The outlet offered by the class of the suspended Giggs was badly missed, and as Gould has fallen out with Ian Rush perhaps the manager would have got better ball retention by picking seasoned players such as David Phillips and Vinnie Jones. "That is your opinion," was Gould's reply.

The problem was, however, that the Wales player's endless chase of the ball eventually left the midfield too tired to support the front two. So the ball came back towards Southall's goal with even more frequency.

His response was to produce one of the truly great goalkeeping displays and a tonic for all 38 year olds as he pulled off about eight goal denying saves ranging from the good to the greatest - a flying arch backwards to claw out Cocu's top corner bound header.

Wales were still 1-0 ahead at that point, courtesy of Dean Saunders on 17 minutes. The goal should have been disallowed for offside but Holland recovered from the blow, resumed their luxurious parade of slick passes and shrewd movement and did everything but score.

That they finally broke through was down to an inspired substitution, the arrival of Celtic's Pierre van Hooijdonk.

Two touches after coming on he poked home from point blank range, then four minutes later the impressive Seedorf left Bowen for dead down the right and as he lined up a perfect cross, van Hooijdonk moved away classically from the goal and his marker, Melville, before thundering back in to meet the ball unstoppably with his head. It was the perfect riposte to being dropped by Tommy Burns in a clash over money.

Four minutes later and the game was over. Cocu crossed from the left and Ronald de Boer dived in with a header.