The Netherlands handed Great Britain one of the most painful defeats in recent memory, as they were thoroughly out-gunned in front of their home support. It was a breath-taking display as the interplay of Roderick Weusthof, Teun de Nooijer, Valentin Verga and Floris Evers was too hot to handle.

Billy Bakker and Weusthof were the chief profiteers, claiming a hat-trick each, while they also ran up four penalty corners from their five attempts. It was the biggest Olympic semi-final victory since India beat France 10-0 in 1936 and equalled GB’s biggest ever margin of defeat in the Olympic Games. It took little time to get into the action with Bakker and Kemperman firing pot shots inside the first three minutes.

Klaas Vermeulen was carried off with a nasty looking shoulder injury soon after before the Dutch hit the front in the seventh minute. Kemperman found a foot just ahead of de Nooijer who looked certain to score but Weusthof duly potted the corner. He got his and the Netherlands’ second from an off-kilter corner which was not stopped cleanly but was worked back to the striker who was unmarked and he slammed home off James Fair’s instep.

Ashley Jackson’s brilliant low drag-flick roused the crowd in the 19^th minute and Barry Middleton’s touch to Matt Daly’s ball shaved the bar. But it was brief respite as the Dutch had the two-goal margin restored by Mink van der Weerden’s seventh goal in six games, another corner. And the fourth was hammer blow just before half-time. It was an intricate beauty of a goal as Verga took a free quickly on half-way and, via close-range passes in the circle between Weusthof and Rogier Hofman, Bakker walked in the ball.

Britain enjoyed their best spell just after the break, having two corners charged down by Hofman, Daly thrashed an effort wide and James Tindall was set clear. His composure was off, though, and could only find a Dutch stick. By contrast, the orange-shirts were calmness personified as Weusthof and de Nooijer waltzed down the baseline to lay up another Bakker goal that well and truly killed off the tie in the 45^th minute, 5-1.

Bob de Voogd’s drive through Fair was tipped in by de Nooijer, Floris Evers got in on the act a minute later. Bakker bashed another in with 19 minutes to go and Weusthof’s third closed off their scoring before Rob Moore pulled one back with a nice tip-in to Glen Kirkham’s cross.

Paul van Ass was left with two major worries though as Vermuelen looks to have broken his collar bone while van der Weerden was taken to hospital for a scan on a foot injury. The Dutch will play Germany in the final while Great Britain will meet Australia for bronze.

(Stephen Findlater)

Roderick WEUSTHOF (NED)

On whether it was the best atmosphere he has ever experienced: "Yes, you could say so. This has never happened to me before with the team. It was unbelievable. (It was) one big party. There was a lot of Dutch fans, but (many) as well from Great Britain. You couldn't hear each other in the match. It's unbelievable playing in this atmosphere. It's really nice."

On the importance of taking a 2-0 lead within 15 minutes: "It was really important because we know that Great Britain are capable to make goals out of corners or just hitting the ball into the D. They are really dangerous. Being 2-0 up in a short period was a great start. (It was) really important because then they had to come and they gave away much more space. For our game and team, that was really nice."

On playing in one of the biggest wins ever in Netherlands hockey: "This is a great thing. I was sitting on the bench with Teun de Nooijer and he said 'I have played a lot of semifinals, but it has never happened this big before, it is the first time ever, it is a part of history now'. It was unbelievable."

On the confidence they can take into the final against Germany: "I think we can have a lot of confidence from this game, but not just this game, even from the games before. I think we play our best games now for a few years so we have a lot of confidence. We have already beaten Germany before in the pool phase and we know we can do it because when we work like this and when we give each other the balls and believe in it, nobody can stop us."

Floris EVERS (NED) - captain 

On the match: "I am really proud of our team. We kept on playing even when we were 4-1, I told them 'You have to play hockey and play, play, play'. We have to just continue to play the game. They (GBR) played very well, but they lost the last penalty corner and we scored and it was our day."

On the final against Germany: "Tomorrow when we wake up we will plan our match with Germany. Germany plays a different game from Great Britain. It will be a tough game. You can't compare this one. Tonight I want to enjoy."

Jason LEE (GBR) - coach

 On the result: "We all very embarrased with the result, mostly the performance. Holland made the pitch very big for us so we had a lot of one-on-one battles and, in the end, we lost a lot of them. I think we were a little bit slack for a few of the goals, but when it got to 4-1 our intention was to try and get back and so we kept trying to attack and that opened us up and we got reckless far too early. At 3-1 and 4-1, we felt we still had a chance, but our game just got too sloppy."

On the team: "Seven years ago we were ranked 11th in the world. We had ambitions and we have acheived them (getting to 4th). I think I heard something like Holland have only missed one semifinal in over 30 years, so that's what we were up against. It's embarrassing to be on the wrong side of it (the result) tonight."

On what they will do to get the team ready for their bronze medal match (v Australia) on Saturday: "It's no easy challenge. We got the basics wrong tonight and that won't be easy to get back. The immediate reaction is to point fingers, but that's not going to help. Showing some fight is the closest we're going to get (to the medal), fight which we didn't show tonight."

Ben HAWES (GBR)

On the result and performance: "We've come up against a very good side today and not turned up. In any international sport if you don't turn up from the start you're up against it. There's no doubt we believed we could contend with Holland today, but too many of us didn't turn up, and there was too much looking at each other and no one taking responsibility."

"I think we showed some naivety at times and they just rolled past us and seemed to want it more. When we've got four or five guys overloading us and tapping in at the back post then there's something seriously wrong. It's difficult so quickly after the game to put your finger on it, but I think it's just really bitterly disappointing.

"We've worked so hard to get to this position and get ourselves in the semifinal for it to turn out like that. You get what you deserve in sport and today we didn't deserve anything. We've got to try and pick ourselves up again, the expectation, the crowd and everything has been brilliant and we've let ourselves down. We need to look in the mirror and take a look at ourselves and prepare for a tough game against Australia on Saturday." 

On whether the team was nervous: "No definitely not. We actually started OK. I think, if anything, maybe we underestimated the occasion and Holland. We've had some good results against them recently and they've clearly been playing some good hockey, but there's not seven goals between us and them and that's what's so disappointing. I think we can all accept losing to better sides on the day, but to lose like that is what makes it just so bitterly disappointing."