Scotland's Euro 2004 dreams turned sour in Amsterdam last night when rampant Holland subjected them to their second heaviest beating of all time.

Ruud van Nistelrooy helped himself to a hat-trick and Wesley Sneijder claimed the opening goal and three assists in a one-sided encounter.

Scotland arrived with a 1-0 first-leg lead in this Euro 2004 qualifying play-off but despite a huge travelling support they provided little threat to Holland, who will now go to Portugal for next summer's finals.

The thrashing threatened to match Scotland's biggest-ever defeat - 7-0 by Uruguay in 1954 - and would have done so had a late Sneijder effort not hit a post.

Scotland coach Berti Vogts admitted: ''We missed Christian Dailly in the midfield - he works so hard. But the Dutch were so strong and they will be one of the favourites for Euro 2004 with the French and maybe the Germans.

''The Dutch played very, very good football and we must learn from the big nations.

''You know the difference when you watch the big players playing for the big clubs. This was a learning experience for us and we have to learn from it.

''Now we start preparation for the World Cup qualifiers.''

Vogts made just one enforced change to the side that had triumphed on Saturday, swapping the suspended Dailly for Gavin Rae in midfield.

Dick Advocaat made four changes, with Frank de Boer, his nation's most-capped player, unceremoniously dropped.

A complete tactical change saw Wilfrid Bouma and Michael Reiziger join Andre Ooijer in a three-man back line, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Patrick Kluivert also jettisoned.

It took Holland just 14 minutes to wipe away that first-leg deficit.

Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart were new additions to the starting line-up and the latter had headed a fine cross from Andy van der Meyde just over before his Ajax team-mate fired a low drive past Douglas from outside the box.

Sneijder was the supplier for the two other goals before half-time with both coming from free-kicks conceded by Jackie McNamara on Marc Overmars.

Ooijer ran in behind Steven Pressley to head past Douglas from close range to put Holland ahead on aggregate in the 32nd minute and van Nistelrooy was unchallenged when he headed home from further out five minutes later.

That left Scotland chasing two away goals but Lee Wilkie, the defensive star of the first leg, gave an indication of how it might be done.

Twice he was on the end of free kicks from Darren Fletcher but his first header found the side-netting and his second was parried by Edwin van der Sar.

Scotland had been second best but had not been lacking in passion as their four first-half bookings showed.

Barry Ferguson was cautioned in the fourth minute, as was van Nistelrooy, for a tussle that also involved Gavin McCann.

Pressley was booked in the tenth minute for a hefty challenge on Edgar Davids and Paul Dickov mis-timed a challenge on Bouma to join him seven minutes later.

Gary Naysmith was the fourth man, receiving a 44th-minute yellow card for a foul on van Nistelrooy.

Vogts made changes at the break, with Stevie Crawford replacing Dickov and Maurice Ross going on for Naysmith, with McNamara reverting to left-sided defender in a three-man back line.

De Boer went on for Ooijer at the same time and the new half was just a minute old when Davids was booked for diving when Wilkie slid in.

Holland's fourth arrived in the 51st minute when van der Vaart sent van Nistelrooy through and the striker lofted the ball cleverly over the advancing Douglas, evading Pressley's desperate attempt to clear.

Van der Vaart fired just wide as Holland attempted to inflict more damage on their wounded prey.

In the 63rd minute Scotland sent Kenny Miller on for McCann but a minute later it was 5-0 when de Boer, the defensive weak link in the first game, rose above Rae to head in a Sneijder corner and give the Ajax man a trio of assists to go with his goal.

Van Nistelrooy completed his hat-trick in the 66th minute when Reiziger won a duel with McNamara to set up van der Meyde on the right. His low ball across goal evaded Wilkie and van Nistelrooy had a simple chance.

* Turkey were the victims of the biggest surprise of the Euro 2004 qualifiers as Latvia reached a major tournament for the first time in their history following a breathtaking 2-2 draw in Istanbul which saw them through 3-2 on aggregate.

The hosts seemed to be on course to overcome Saturday's 1-0 defeat in Riga when they cruised into a two-goal lead through Ilhan Mansiz and Hakan Sukur.

But Jurijs Laizans pulled one back within seconds of Sukur's goal and Maris Verpakovskis snatched a dramatic equaliser to send the Turks crashing out.

There were no such shocks in Oslo as Spain, harbouring a 2-1 lead from the first leg, cruised to a 3-0 win and advance 5-1.