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World Cup Daily Recap: Netherlands tops Uruguay, reaches final

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Photo by ISIphotos.com 

By FRANCO PANIZO

The Dutch dream lives on. 

The Netherlands reached the World Cup final with a 3-2 victory over Uruguay at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town on Tuesday. 

Captains Giovanni Van Bronckhorst and Diego Forlan scored in the first half with long-range efforts, but the Netherlands netted two goals in a span of three minutes in the second half to book a place in its third World Cup final.

Goals in the 70th and 73rd minutes by Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, respectively, helped pave the way for the Dutch. Sneijder's strike, a curling shot from 15 yards out, was questionable, as Robin Van Persie attempted to make a play on the shot from an offside position.

Uruguay pulled one back in the 90th minute when Maxi Pereira placed one in from the top of the penalty area following a free kick, but the Netherlands managed to hold on to the victory.

Here are the match highlights:

The Netherlands will play the winner of Wednesday's Spain-Germany match on Sunday. The loser of the semifinal fixture will face Uruguay in the third-place match on Saturday.

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What do you think of the Netherlands' 3-2 win vs. Uruguay? Think the Dutch can win it all? Did Uruguay impress you with its run?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Are you seriously saying that the ball did not deflect off anyone after the shot? When the ball was struck Van Persie was in an offside position… The ball deflected off the Uruguay defender but still continued on a forward path towards goal… the laws of the game are very clear on this issue… the player gained an advantage by poaching on a deflected but goal bound shot and attempted to make a play on the ball which is precisely whey the GK did not get to the ball…he had to wait to see if Van Persie was going to flick it in another direction…

    there are simply no arguments about this to be heard…

    that all being said…the Dutch belong and are the better teams…

    Also for those that vilify Sauarez… I can tell you that if you are on my team and the ball is going into the back of the net without intervention in the last minute of extra time in the World Cup semifinal…then I certainly don’t want you on my team…

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  2. I agree with the comment about Kuyt. He is one of my favorite players. Nothing flashy, just good, hard playing footballer. He does have his moments of brilliance though.

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  3. jjraines…don’t watch soccer if you don’t like it. And don’t pretend that you are a better American (or person) because you think that your morals are somehow superior. In fact, please continue watching the sport where the 250lb guy sprints and tries to take off your balls. Never seen that one, but it sounds like a great option for you. But if you insist….NBA guys fake fouls all the time. WR in the NFL try to draw fake interference calls. NHL players dive too. Baseball players make feeble attempts to move out of the way of an inside fastball.

    All I’m saying is DON’T pretend that players from INSERT YOUR TEAM HERE don’t dive.

    sucram89…you are the exact type of person I’m talking about…you’ve been listening to too many English TV guys bleating on about Italians and you believe it. I suggest turning down the volume.

    badabing…thank you. Don’t you think FIFA could review all fouls in a game and retroactively punish those found to dive without any contact?

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  4. I don’t see Navas or Arbeola making the starting 11. Ramos is locked in to that role even if he isn’t as great as people seem to think he is.

    He reminds me of Glenn Johnson – forward forward forward, oops – forgot about the defense. “Hey, Puyol! Help me out man!”

    But I agree with your main point that Spain has shown a lack of flexibility. I’ve been saying it for ages – they have ONE and only ONE game plan and if it doesn’t work, they can’t win.

    See Barca against Inter – see Spain against Switzerland/USA.

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  5. Its really interesting no one seems to be bothered by the urugayan diving and asking for yellows. It seems that the soccer “experts” on this blog decided Holland is the first team in history that dives. Thought in the Brasil game Robhino stopping his run because he knew DeJong would get a yellow if he did was despicable too. Especially since if he kept running it could have lead to a great opportunity for them. But I guess that is not important to the Holland haters out here.

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  6. I’m Dutch and I have to say Forlan’s goal was a great goal by a great player. After the game Stekelenburg admitted that he could not see the ball so he took a step to the right that made him just a fraction too late. So observation #3 is spot on.
    Thought the game was a great one for any foorball fan and Uruguay showed they deserved to be in the semi finals.
    Now I hope Holland can step up their game coming sunday and give us the cup for the first time in history!

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  7. Well, they’d also taken one defensive midfielder off at the half, but I get your point.

    Of course to play Robben and Elia at the same time, you’d have to drop RVP, Kuyt or Sneijder from the side.

    I only stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but that doesn’t seem to be the path to success.

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  8. I dunno. Spain has shown a lack of flexibility. Any time that an opponent clogs the middle they just look perplexed rather than shift tactics. You can Bet Germany will come out exactly like the Swiss and US did, only with a much more lethal countering game (no offense to the US, who did score 2). Plus, with Torres and Fabregas not at 100 percent it’s a lot for Villa to carry alone.
    Shutting down Schweinstieger and taking away the counter will be key.

    If they come out like this, it will be a long day for Germany:

    ———Casillas———-
    Capdevila–Pique–Puyol–Arbeola
    ———X. Alonso———
    —–Iniesta——-Xavi——
    Navas——————Silva
    ———–Villa————

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  9. as was shown once Elia took the pitch. coincidence that Uruguay got one back? nope.

    I like Elia as well, but he’s got some learnin to do yet…

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  10. nah, I’ve always hated it. drawing a fold is one thing, milking t to try to draw a card is shameless.

    but speaking of less than sporting trends, how about these herky-jerky run ups to penalties now that are making the rounds in SA? God help us if this one catches on! FIFA better address this right away, something akin to the balk rule n baseball, once you start your approach you must remain at speed or you forfeit your shot.

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  11. If I hear that this was keeper error one more time I’m gonna start typing in all caps.

    1. The ball had mad spin, you can see he got a hand on the ball but instead of it caroming up it went sideways off his hand into the goal.

    2. Forlan made the keeper jump “wrong footed” by moving far post and then shooting opposite his direction.

    3. The keeper was tracking Forlan with a lot of bodies in front of him, may have not even seen the shot leave his foot and you can bet he didn’t hear the strike.

    4. It may have even gotten a slight deflection.

    Verdict based on those observations? Give full marks to Forlan for making the most of his shot, and IMHO if you give the keeper 5 cracks at that shot it’ll go in 4 times.

    So use you eyes and your own judgement rather than simply repeating the erroneous observations of the TV commentators.

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  12. DC Josh,

    I predicted Germany would get this far and I thought they would make the final (although I picked Brazil to win it) but your comment on Spain not yet playing to their full potential is worrisome.

    I think Spain have looked awful but tonight everything may just click and they turn it on. I still think Germany is too strong on the counter when Ramos goes forward and they will pick off Spain.

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  13. They showed the reply on ESPN with the dark line and Van Persie was ONSIDE when the ball was struck. It didn’t deflect off of anyone else by the time it got to him.

    What drives me most nuts about soccer fans, especially on this site, is the lack of knowledge in general about the game. There have been many blown calls this world cup, but this wasn’t one of them.

    Reply

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