World Cup Semi Final: Uruguay 2 Netherlands 3: ORANJE BOOM boom! For the second time in their history the Dutch colonised the Cape. The results were happier this time. Two second-half goals against a doughty Uruguayan side brought the Dutch access to their third World Cup final.
It wasn’t a classic semi-final, but for a while the game improved as it aged. The Dutch seldom played with the sort of fluency which marked their two previous trips to the final or which suggested they might at last win one, but sufficient unto the day was the win thereof.
Uruguay, let off the hook by Ghana in the last round, will have no real complaints. What goes around, etc.
The football didn’t sparkle and flow, but you could sense goals from early on.
In the first Dutch attack, in fact, Arjen Robben’s cross was flapped at ineffectually by Fernando Muslera, only for Dirk Kuyt to drive a snap-shot over the bar. A worrying sign for the South Americans.
If there was any doubt Muslera wasn’t getting the respect he would have hoped for, it came in the 18th minute when Giovanni van Bronckhurst took the ball out on the left about 35 yards out, looked up and drove it to the top corner of the net. A near replica of a goal he scored against Ireland 10 years ago in Amsterdam, but the Uruguayans didn’t seem to appreciate that. 1-0 Netherlands.
By the time of the goal the game had settled into a pattern, with the Dutch doing more of the hustling and unsettling Uruguay for whom Diego Forlan was looking an increasingly isolated figure. The Dutch were pushing high up the pitch, refusing to let Uruguay come at them with anything more than hurried long balls. Not pretty, but effective.
There had been a couple of surprises in both line-ups when announced. Uruguay, widely expected to give a start to Sebastian Abreu, El Loco, plumped instead for Edinson Cavani, El Matador. Perhaps a matador for a madman seemed a wise choice against such cerebral opposition. In central midfield they drafted in another comparative youngster, Walter Gargano of Napoli.
Equally surprising was Bert van Marwijk’s decision to replace the suspended Nigel de Jong with Demy de Zeeuw of Ajax. Khalid Boulahrouz came in for the suspended Gregory de Wiel at full back.
There was an intriguing and illustrative sequence on about 25 minutes which underlined Uruguay’s frustrations. De Zeeuw took the boot of Martin Caceres full in the face as the latter attempted an overhead kick. Caceres got booked.
For afters there was some shemozzling and debating. Wesley Sneijder got booked for letting his mouth run loose. The ball swept up the field and Caceres, who was having an interesting evening, had to make a brave tackle of Robben to keep the winger from adding a second.
Such, it seemed, was the unfolding nature of the Uruguayan evening. There was a sense that in the last round fate had dealt them all the good breaks it was going to deal.
They kept working, though, looking for a pathway into the game, and when Forlan had a near miss with a header on 38 minutes you could sense the nourishment to their morale.
The Dutch goal seemed to have bought Uruguay a little space and a little respite. They made the odd hopeful canter forward now.
Then, just four minutes before the break, the right card came up. A through ball to Forlan (who else?). Cavani, outside to his right on the break, drew the attention of the central defence. Forlan cut inside and thumped a shot basically straight at Maarten Stekelenburg who got a palm to it as it went past into his net. A mortification for the goalie, but Forlan will point to the swerve and spin he applied to the ball. Level.
The Dutch started the second half with the more attack-minded Rafael van der Vaart replacing De Zeeuw in midfield. Despite lining up more creatively, the Dutch almost came undone just five minutes into the half when a weak backpass by Boulahrouz got Maarten Stekelenburg into still more trouble and Cavani lobbed the inevitable loose ball toward an empty net only for Van Bronckhurst to arrive with a saving header.
The first half stats gave the Dutch more ball but Uruguay more chances, and it continued to feel like that for a while with the Dutch holding possession but Uruguay defending with a tight and aggressive back four.
Ahead of them Gargano and Egidio Arevalo got through Trojan work in the centre of midfield, requiring Mark van Bommel to make a series of tackles which somehow seemed exempt from the reward of a yellow card.
With half an hour left it opened up. Forlan dipped a lovely free to Stekelenburg’s right and he did well to get there.
At the other end, Van der Vaart and Robben had chances in quick succession. Something was going to give. It gave at the Uruguayan end and there was more than a hint of misfortune about it. Sneijder essayed a shot from 18 yards. It seemed to change direction off a defender, then hop past Robin van Persie’s leg as he seemed to lumber in a marginally offside position. And into the net.
Two games in a row where Sneijder has scored goals varnished in good luck.
If Uruguay were tempted towards melancholy contemplation of the sudden change in their fortune, the Dutch saved them the bother. Two minutes later a couple of passes clipped together sweetly. Kuyt chipped a nice cross in and Robben headed forcefully from the six-yard box low into the net. 3-1.
Uruguay hopefully sent on a striker, Abreu, for a midfielder, Alvaro Pereira, and replaced the jaded Forlan soon after.
The fourth official had just held up the board announcing three minutes of injury time when Maxi Pereira placed a shot from the edge of the area into the corner of the Dutch net.
Another sweet goal but too little and too late. They pressed on but their adventure was over. The Dutch make the great trek north to Soccer City for Sunday’s final.