The London 2012 Olympic champions emphasised their continuing dominance of the women's game as they scored two early goals at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague through a Maartje Paumen penalty in the 12th minute and an effort from captain Kim Lammers, playing her 200th and last international match, 17 minutes later.

The Dutch then maintained a firm grip on the game to register a record seventh World Cup title in front of 15,000 largely ecstatic fans and with a global TV audience of millions.

The statistics bore out the Dutch dominance - they had 14 shots on target, while Australia could only manage three.

Their previous World Cup wins were in 1974, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1990 and 2006.

"I could only dream of this," said Lammers.

"We waited until our chances came and finally we got this penalty stroke.

"Maartje Paumen, she's a killer, a lot of pressure but she does it always.

"The I got my chance, and it's a dream to score in a World Cup final in our own home and on my 200th cap."

Dutch captain Kim Lammers marked her 200th and final international with a goal in the World Cup final. "I could only dream of this," she said ©AFP/Getty Images

Earlier in the day, two goals from a half-fit but still mesmerising Luciana Aymar saw Argentina through to a 2-1 win in their bronze medal match against the United States.

The 36-year-old Aymar, eight times World Player of the Year, has been suffering with a hamstring injury to her right leg since the third of the qualifying matches, but she played more than a full part as she struck in the eighth and 21st minutes to secure  a victory which left her in tears of joy.

The United States, who had arrived ranked 10th in the world but topped their group with five victories out of five, offered serious resistance, equalising Aymar's opening goal within three minutes through the US captain Lauren Crandall.

But Argentina, with 21-year-old Florencia Habif running amok in the US defence, managed to prevent the US from equalising and thus added another global medal to the silver they won at the London 2012 Games.

"We are pleased with the way we have done over the last two weeks," said the US coach Craig Parnham.

"It was a tight game, but overall I am proud of how the girls have performed, not just over the past two weeks but also over the last eight months.

"As a 10th-ranked team to come here and finish fourth is good and justifies the work that the girls have been doing."

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