The 1988 European Champions defeated the South American’s 3-2 at the Cape Town Stadium in what turned out to be a thrilling encounter on Tuesday evening to go through to their first FIFA World Cup Final since 1978.

Giovanni Von Bronkhorst shot the Dutch into the lead in the 18th minute with a superb driven effort from 25 yards from goal which flew past Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera to give the Dutch the lead.

Forlan the spirit and fighting heart of the Uruguayan team had them back in the game when he levelled the scores four times before half time with an equally impressive goal.

Two more goals in the second half from Wesley Sneijder and a well executed header by Arjen Robben put Holland in command of the game, Uruguay got a second goal in second half injury time when Maximiliano Pereira got on the end of a cleverly worked free kick to ensure there would be a tense finish to the game.

The Dutch began the game looking the livelier of the two teams and it was their skipper Von Bronkhorst who used the space afforded to him to let fly at goal with a shot from way out on the left wing, which swerved beyond the Muslera and hit the top of the net to put Holland in the lead.

It was not going to be easy for them though and it took one moment of magic from Diego Forlan to get Uruguay back in the game, the Atletico Madrid striker hit the ball powerfully from a central position to goal from far out, the ball went over the head of Stekelenburg and into the back of the net to see Forlan score his fourth goal of the World Cup and the first time that he has managed to score a goal against a team from outside of Africa.

In the second half Sneijder cut his way into the left side of the Uruguay danger area and hit the ball along the ground with the aid of a deflection from Pereira and Robin Van Persie in the way of Muslera the ball beat the Uruguay keeper at his far post to see Holland go 2-1 up in the 70th minute.

Sneijder netting his fifth goal of the tournament to ensure that he joined David Villa at the top of the goal scorer’s chart.

Three minutes after that Dirk Kuyt’s ball in from the left was pin point and so was Robben’s downward header which left Muslera rooted to his spot and bounced over the line to put Holland 3-1 in front at this stage.

Uruguay were not done and in the 92nd minute pulled a goal back it was a cleverly worked free kick by Walter Gargano who played a quick short pass to Pereira on the right edge of the Dutch 18 yard and he drove the ball across goal past Stekelenburg to cut the arrears by a goal.

Uruguay did not have time to score another goal and their run at the World Cup came to an end, justice some might cry after Luis Suarez handled what looked like a certain Ghana goal in the last eight to help Uruguay get to the semi - final.

The night belonged to the Dutch who conquered the Cape of Good Hope and now move into the interior for what will be their final battle at the 2010 World Cup on Sunday at Soccer City, to see if they can put aside the pain of 1974 and 1978 when they were runner’s up at the tournament and win the World Cup for the first time.

They now await their opponents will it be Germany or Spain who will go head to head with each other in the other semi-final on Wednesday evening in Durban.