Brazil 2 Holland 2, 5th June 1999

Brazil failed to hold on to a win and came close to losing this match in Salvador.

Holland retrieved a two goal deficit and then saw young striker Ruud van Nistelrooij produce a miss much more memorable than most mere goals.

The PSV striker - a target for Juventus no less - beat a defender with a body swerve and took the ball around the dive of goalkeeper Dida with nine minutes to go and then turned to face away from the goal before trying to back heel the ball into the net. He missed and fell over in a brilliant piece of individual play that brought gasps from the crowd at his ingenious mistake.

Roberto carlos had opened the scoring with a swerving free kick that new Juve goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar could only slap into the path of Amoroso who hit the ball in. An angled shot from Giovanni also beat the Dutch defence in the 45th minute as it found the net at the near post.

The interval harmed the home team though and only a Denilson shot threatened a goal in the second session. The Dutch passing game took over with its familiar patterns which had been absent in the first half. Kluivert scored a good goal with a low shot on the run in the 64th minute and Peter van Vossen tied the game up with a nutmeg through the legs of a Brazilian defender and angled chip over Dida into the net to leave the sparse crowd complaining.

The two sides meet again on Wednesday night in Goiania.