Hamburg defender Joris Mathijsen hit the winning goal in the 17th minute from a Robin van Persie corner but otherwise the Dutch failed to impose their game on their stubborn hosts in this Group G qualifier.

They were without Arjen Robben, Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneider through injury, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Khalid Boulahrouz through suspension and Mark van Bommel and Ruud van Nistelrooy, both ignored by coach Marco van Basten.

The coach has adopted a very youthful and home-based selection policy for his squads, largely shunning veteran or experienced players at Europe's leading clubs.

The vans Bommel and Nistelrooy - of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid respectively - are only the latest players to be snubbed by van Basten.

Before them, AC Milan's Clarence Seedorf, Bayern's Roy Makaay and Tottenham's Edgar Davids all saw their international careers put to rest.

The move had seemed to pay off as the Netherlands beat Ireland 4-0 in Dublin in a friendly last month.

But in the competitive glare of Euro qualification, it was a very different story.

Aurelien Joachim twice went close to giving Luxembourg the lead before Mathijsen opened the scoring for the visitors.

Wigan's Denny Landzaat and Ajax's Klas-Jan Huntelaar created several opportunities for the Netherlands but it was Sebastien Remy and Gilles Bettmer of Luxembourg who came closest to scoring in the first half.

And even when van Basten went for broke in the second period with five forwards at one point, the Netherlands still could find no way through.

The visit of Belarus on Wednesday will be a sterner test and the orange army will have to improve drastically if they are to avoid an embarrassment.