What a match! The Uruguayans never gave up.
Maxi Pereira scored an added time goal. That made it 3-2 and the finish was never more frenetic as the Charruas sent every one on top to try and get the equalizer. There was high drama as Mark Van Bommel thinking time was over takes off his armband and the referee Ravshan Irmatov books him. An agonizing minute – its finally over.
Holland are in the finals for the first time since 1978. They now await the winners of Germany vs Spain.
6 comments on “The final will be brilliant Orange!”
Is anyone besides the Dutch happy to have seen this robo-squad take down Brazil and now Uruguay? Mechanical play, thugs like Brommel, and the endless wincing dives by Robben and Snider? No wonder Melo had had enough… All the stylish, passionate teams are now out – boo!
Patrick- not the most artistic team, I agree and we do have our thugs in Van Bommel and Boulahrouz, divers in Robben and Van Persie. But the Dutch have figured out that this what needs to be done to win a World Cup. They failed doing it the right way in 1974 and 1978.
Sure, Robben is one of the worst divers and Van Bommell and De Jong are thugs but that is football. I hate diving as much as anyone but we have to accept it to a degree. Schweinsteiger dives. I see him do it all the time. Fake wincing when he clearly jumped over the tackle.
But to Patrick’s point, I am happy for the Dutch. Sneijder is a joy to watch.
Diving and thuggery aside, this Dutch side has been a hell of a lot more entertaining than Brazil. I wouldn’t include the Selecao on a list of stylish teams in 2010, save for a few rare opportunities for Robinho to give Dunga the finger and do something fun.
d- I could hardly agree more.
I’m also happy to have the Dutch in the final. Also, as I said in an earlier comment on the Brazil-Dutch match, I really think it’s important to separate “dives” – as in diving when there really isn’t a foul at all – from times when players go down easily or somewhat exaggerate the effect of a tackle when there was actually a foul involved in the play. Look, I wish we could cut out all of the theatrics but without them, how frequently would refs miss clear fouls because players are so strong that they are able to fight through bone-crunching challenges. I think we need to consider the possibility that things would be worse without the exaggerations, while still recognizing that there are excesses – Robben, I’m looking at you – that should be cut down on.
As a final note, all those criticizing the Dutch, would you really rather see a team that plays effective football that includes some cynicism go down and have truly cynical teams that don’t play with the intent to win during time and/or rarely venture out of a massively defensive posture? Not everyone has speed all over the field like Germany or wizards on the ball like Argentina or Spain. If you take out those teams like Uruguay and/or the Dutch that combine hard tackling with technique, vision, and the occasional moment of brilliance I think all you will get are one way matches like Switzerland v. Spain.