It is generally regarded as the match nobody wants to play in, but hosts Brazil and the Netherlands faced off at the World Cup today 12/07/14 at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, in the third place playoff in a bid to restore a small semblance of pride after both teams suffered heart-breaking but contrasting losses in their respective semifinal matches. It was the second consecutive World Cup in which the Brazilians and the Dutch had clashed. The Brazilians were eager to bounce back after their disastrous 7-1 thrashing at the hands (or rather the feet) of the Germans which left a whole nation in mourning. The Dutch on the other hand had fallen to the Argentines in a penalty shootout but could still draw solace from the fact that they had exceeded many people's expectations here in Brazil as many never expected them to even reach this far in the competition especially on the heels of the disastrous showing they had in the Euro's two years ago and getting drawn in a difficult group which included Defending Champions Spain. In their quarterfinal encounter in Port Elizabeth, South Africa four years ago, it was the Dutch who prevailed 2-1 after they had trailed to an early Robinho goal. Wesley Sneijder was the orchestrator of that dramatic Dutch comeback that day and a similar result would have been a fine way for the Dutch to end their Brazilian adventure, having never won a third place playoff at the World Cup before. Their last game at this stage back at France '98 wasn't exactly the most memorable for the Oranje as they fell to a Davor Suker inspired Croatian team making its World Cup debut as an independent nation since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The final score was 2-1 to the Eastern Europeans that day.
It would be the Dutch who made the brighter start as Robben was brought down in the Brazilian penalty area by Thiago Silva in the 3rd minute and the referee pointed to the spot. Van Persie stepped up for the Europeans and made no mistake.1-0 to the Netherlands and the hosts had fallen behind for the second straight match. Robben would soon find himself in the referee's book for a foul on Thiago Silva. Soon though the Netherlands would double their lead as poor defending would allow David Luiz to head a ball straight to Daley Blind who would capitalize on the opportunity. Brazil were now two goals in the hole with only 17 minutes gone. They would then win a free kick in the Dutch area but it was repelled for a corner which the Brazilians wasted. De Guzman would then be the second Dutchman booked, but again the Brazilians couldn't take advantage of the free kick opportunity and the scoreline remained the same. A few minutes before halftime, Brazil would be awarded another free kick for a Vlaar challenge on Ramires. The South Americans couldn't conjure up anything special from the chance given as the Dutch defense held firm. At the half it would be the Europeans who went in with the 2-0 lead.
At the resumption Brazil started with a bit more promise as they dominated the early possession.Unfortunately they couldn't capitalize. Scolari would then make a substitution as Hernanes replaced Paulinho in the 57th minute. Ramires would get a good opportunity to get Brazil on the scoreboard as he had a shot that went just wide of the Dutch goal. In the 70th minute the Dutch would make a substitution as Janmaat would replace Blind. Hulk would then come on for Ramires in the 73rd minute as Brazil became desperate to get back in the game. Still the hosts would be hard-pressed to muster up any meaningful attack. They would win a free kick however in the 85th minute but it was quickly repelled by the Dutch defense. Victory was seemingly in sight for the Neteherlands so Van Gaal decided to make a substitution as Veltman replaced Clasie in the 91st minute. Wijnaldum would soon heap more misery on the Brazilians as he received a good ball on the Brazilian right from Janmaat and the PSV Eindhoven player made no mistake. In the end it was the Dutch who held on for a well-deserved 3-0 win and the right to be called the third best team in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment