Only two saves by Brazil goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel in a penalty shoot-out denied Holland a place in the final, and they then missed out on the bronze medal by going down 2-1 toCroatia.

The Brazil match had finished 1-1 after extra-time, Ronaldo having broken the deadlock within seconds of the re-start and Patrick Kluivert heading a late equaliser.

But Taffarel guessed right for both Philip Cocu's and Ronald De Boer's spot-kicks.

Unluckily for Holland, Dennis Bergkamp, superb in the 2-1 quarter-final win over Argentina, had a quiet game.

Holland started their World Cup campaign badly.

A goalless draw against Belgium was compounded by the sending-off of Kluivert for elbowing Belgian defender Lorenzo Staelens. He was suspended for the next two matches although the versatile Cocu more than made up for his absence with two fine performances in a 5-0 thrashing of South Korea and a 2-2 draw withMexico.

The Dutch defence went to sleep in the second half against the Mexicans, who exploited a lapse by Manchester United's 15 million dollar defender Jaap Stam to equalise.

But Holland were lucky against Yugoslavia in the second round when Predrag Mijatovic missed a penalty and Bergkamp was fortunate not to get sent off for stamping in their 2-1 win.

Edgar Davids, who had been sent home for Euro 96 for accusing coach Guus Hiddink of favouring white players, hammered a dramatic injury time winner.

Bergkamp had put the Dutch in front, only for Slobodan Komljenovic to head an equaliser. Three minutes later Mijatovic, who had won the European Cup for Real Madrid, blasted his penalty against the cross-bar.

A brilliant strike by Bergkamp two minutes from the end then gave Holland a 2-1 victory over Argentina in their quarter-final in Marseille.

Claudio Lopez had hauled Argentina level after Kluivert had given Holland the lead on just 12 minutes.

But two sendings-off marred an otherwise marvellous match.

Holland's Athur Numan, booked for a foul on Gabriel Batistuta in the first half, was red carded after clattering into Diego Simeone in the 77th minute.

Five minutes later Argentine playmaker Daniel Ortega was also sent off when he headbutted Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar.

Sadly, Taffarel was there to stop them in the semi-finals and Guus Hiddink's men were gunned down by top scorer Davor Suker at the Parc des Princes on Saturday night.

Summing up his men's performance at France 98, Hiddink said: "After the disappointment, you have to say that our style, our philosophy has impressed the world and that's what I'm proud of."