BRUSSELS, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Ruud van Nistelrooij's first-half strike proved enough to give the Netherlands 1-0 victory against African lion Cameroon Saturday at an international friendly in Rotterdam.

    The victory signals an ideal starting for the Dutch's road towards the German World Cup as Marco van Basten began his preparations for the FIFA World Cup finals in earnest.

    In his 50th match for his country, the Manchester United striker scored the only goal at the De Kuip stadium midway through the first half.

    The home side started with Wesley Sneijder as central midfielder due to Rafael van der Vaart's lack of match fitness, while Robin van Persie started on the right of the attack in preference to Dirk Kuijt.

    The Arsenal FC forward proved a real handful for the Cameroonian defence but attempts to round off his good work by both Van Nistelrooij and Phillip Cocu were saved by Carlos Kameni.

    After 23 minutes, however, Van Nistelrooij maintained his remarkable scoring record at international level with his 26th goal for his country, finishing neatly after Andre Ooijer had headed Cocu's pass out of defence towards the striker.

    The Dutch dominated thereafter, although Salomon Olembe came close to an equalizer only to be foiled by Edwin van der Sar. The second half was less eventful and Cameroon finished the match with ten men as Alioum Saidou was sent off for a second yellow card five minutes from time.

    Cameroon's striker Samuel Eto'o, the top striker at the Spanish league over the last season, did not appear at Saturday's friendly.

    On June 1 and June 4, the Orange team will have another two international friendlies with Mexico and Australia. Enditem