Jan Paul van Hecke’s passing ability earned him his first start for Holland.

The Albion centre-back lined up alongside Virgil van Dijk for the UEFA Nations League fixture versus Hungary in Amsterdam.

Expectation appeared to be that he would be on the bench at kick-off.

Instead, he earned his second cap as part of the XI and helped in a 4-0 win.

Van Hecke has stood out with his passing from the back for his club, be it spreading play wide or threading passes into feet.

Ahead of the game, Holland boss Ronald Koeman said: “You always have an idea of what you expect from a match.

“We assume that Hungary wants to do the same as last time, so that they will drop back a lot. The better you build up, the better it is.'

'And I think Jan Paul is very good at that'.

“That also has to do with how he plays at his club.

“When you have so many good central defenders, you can sometimes make decisions based on details.

“I think the ball possession part is very important now and that Jan Paul is best at that.”

Van Hecke and Bart Verbruggen both played the full game and Mats Wieffer went on as sub after 79 minutes.

The game was halted early on when Hungary coach Adam Szalai was taken ill. He was taken to an Amsterdam hospital for an examination and was in a stable condition.

Speaking before he joined up with the squad, van Hecke said: I’m really proud. If you can play for your nation it’s one of the best things you can do, I think.

“It’s the second time now but, the first time, it was because somebody got injured.

“So another great moment for me and hopefully more to come.”

Holland have secured their place in the knockout stage as runners-up to Germany in the group.

They now head to Zenica to face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday evening.