Robin van Persie carried his Manchester United goalscoring form onto the international stage to help Netherlands to a 2-0 win over Turkey in their World Cup qualifying opener tonight.
The Dutchman struck a hat-trick to inspire United's 3-2 win over Southampton last weekend and took just 16 minutes to find the net once more.
He jumped highest to head home Wesley Sneijder's corner and take his Netherlands tally to 30 goals in 69 games.
However, Turkey had enough chances to earn themselves a point, with Galatasaray Sercan Yildirim proving to be the main threat.
He forced a smart save out of Tim Krul before supplying Arda Turan, who was also denied by the Newcastle United stopper.
The two sides traded blows in the second half as Krul tipped a long-range Hamit Altintop effort over the crossbar, while Van Persie sent a header off target.
As Turkey pushed for an equaliser late on, Netherlands caught them on the counter attack and made sure of the result with a 93rd-minute Luciano Narsingh goal.
Joe Fish
