The Netherlands were condemned to play in the European play-offs for the FIFA Women's World Cup after finishing two points behind group winners France. Hungary was the first obstacle on their way to the World Cup, having won their group with Azerbaijan, North Macedonia, and Andorra in League C of World Cup qualifying.
In Budapest, Lineth Beerensteyn helped the visitors get off to a hopeful start with two goals in the opening 15 minutes, with the second the pick of the bunch, a weighted cross from Lynn Wilms volleyed in beautifully by the Real Madrid forward.
Arsenal's Victoria Pelova helped the Netherlands take a three-goal lead in the 26th minute, and Barcelona's Esmee Brugts finished the first half by tapping in a rebound.
The Orange Lionesses didn't stop their charge there, with Friday's heavy favourites going up five shortly after the restart via Damaris Egurrola Wienke, who headed in from a corner.
Pelova then bagged her hat-trick in the next 14 minutes, twisting and turning to the 6-0 before taking full advantage of poor Hungarian defending.
As the Dutchwomen eased off the throttle in the final 30 minutes, a late Beerensteyn goal was disallowed for offside, but the Real striker still completed her hat-trick by scoring from a rebound in the opening minute of injury time.
A smashing 8-0 win over Hungary, ranked 38 places below Oranje in the FIFA World Rankings, ruled the return leg in Tilburg as good as redundant, with the game taking place on Tuesday, October 13th.
Check out the full match and player statistics on Flashscore
