- Josh Dolan
- Sun, Jul 06 2014
It took a penalty shoot- out for Louis Van Gaal’s Netherlands side to beat Costa Rica in the quarter finals of the world cup, in Salvador, on Saturday night.
Several stops from Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas, as well as the upright kept the Dutch out on a number of occasions. Van Gaal made a controversial decision to replace Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul for penalties
The Dutch had the lion share of possession, and dominated productive play in the opening stages of the first, however due to Costa Rica’s well organised rear-guard, and the lack of a potent pass in the final third, it took until the 22nd minute for us to get our first sense of goal mouth action.
The first chance of the tie came when Dirk Kuyt found Memphis Depay, who elected to lay the ball on for Robin Van Persie, but the Manchester UTD striker’s shot was palmed out to Wesley Snjeider by Keylor Navas, however the Galatasaray star’s shot was also matched by the Costa Rican shot stopper.
Snjeider tried to prove that anything that David Luiz can do he can do better, when his curling free kick was excellently saved by Navas, after Robben was taken down by Junior Diaz 25 yards out from goal, just after the hour mark.
Like the first, the Netherlands dominated chances in the second half, Stefan De Vrij had the first chance of the second half, as Robben’s cross picked out the centre half, but his goal bound effort was well blocked by Diaz.
The Netherlands came with in the width of the post from opening the scoring late on , as Snjeider rifled a free kick against the post, after Robben had been taken down by Giancarlo Gonzalez 25 yards out from goal.
Van Perise was frustrated throughout on the night , and it appeared that the 30 year old striker just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net, and that illusion was furthered in the closing stages of normal time, as Van Persie failed to make contact with Robben’s ball, when contact would have certainly meant a goal for the men in orange.
The Dutch carried their clear dominance into extratime, and Van Gaal’s men could have gone in front when Robben crossed for Ron Vlaar, only for the Villa defender’s header to be well saved by Navas, not for the first time on the night.
Marco Arena could’ve booked Costa Rica’s place in the semi-finals deep into extratime, as he evaded a couple of Netherland’s challenge, however his effort was well saved by the under worked Cillessen.
Sneijder came close to winning the game in the dying moments of extratime, as he cut inside, before crashing the ball against bar with a thunderous strike from 20 yards out.
Ultimately the game finished with the lottery of penalties, and misses from captain, Bryan Ruiz and defender, Michael Umana, coupled with four successful Dutch penalties meant that the Dutch advanced to the semi-finals.
Netherlands: Jasper Cillessen (Tim Krul 120+1); Ron Vlaar, Stefan De Vrij, Bruno Indi Martins (Klaas Jan Huntelaar 106); Daly Blind, Dirk Kuyt; Wesley Snjeider, Georginio Winjaldum, Memphis Depay (Jermain Lens 76); Arjen Robben, Robin Van Persie.
Subs Not Used: Jordy Clasie, Jonathan De Guzman, Daryl Janmaat, Terence Kongolo, Joel Veltman, Paul Verhaegh, Michel Vorm.
Booked: Bruno Martins Indi (64), Klaas Jan Huntelarr (112)
Sent Off: None.
Costa Rica: Keylor Navas; Johnny Acosta, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Michael Umana; Junior Diaz, Cristian Gamboa (Dave Myrie 79); Christian Bolanos, Celso Borges, Yeltsin Tejeda (Jose Cubero97), Brian Ruiz;
Junior Campbell (Marcos Urena 69).
Subs Not Used: Michael Barrantes, Wavlon Francis, Oscar Granodos, Randal Brennes, Patrick Pemberton, Diego Calvo, Daniel Cabronero.
Booked: Junior Diaz (37), Michael Umana (52), Giancario Gonzalez (81), Johnny Acosta (107).
Sent Off: None.
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov.
Extratime Man Of The Match: Keylor Navas (Costa Rica).
