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Netherlands 3, Uruguay 2 – Netherlands advances to World Cup final

Uruguay Starting Lineup:

Goalkeeper: Muslera

Godín,  Victorino,  Cáceres,  Maxi Pereira,  Gargano,  Arévalo,  Álvaro Pereira (Abreu, 78),  Pérez,  Cavani,  Forlán (Fernandez, 84)

Netherlands Starting Lineup:

Goalkeeper: Stekelenburg

Mathijsen, Heitinga, Van Bronckhorst, Boulahrouz, De Zeeuw (Van der Vaart, 45), Van Bommel, Van Persie, Sneijder, Kuyt, Robben (Elia, 90)

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Cruyff.

Van Basten.

Gulitt.

Bergkamp.

Total Football.

The Netherlands has given many stars and a rich legacy of excellence to the sport of international football. For decades, Holland has delighted neutral observers with an aesthetically pleasing brand of play, earning admiration even in defeat. Fans of the world’s most popular athletic competition are often inclined to value style more than bottom-line results. The way a team plays is often more cherished than the scoreboard outcome it ultimately manages to produce.

For so many years, the Dutch were beloved by footie fans for this very set of reasons: They didn’t lift a major international trophy, but oh, they made soccer savants ooh and ahh in appreciation for playing “the beautiful game” with artistry, elegance and flair.

With this meta-narrative serving as the backdrop for Holland’s 2010 World Cup semifinal on Tuesday against Uruguay, it is at once fitting and ironic that the Dutch occupied such a stage. This version of the Oranje has won consistently in South Africa, shedding its reputation as a late-stage choker. Then again, coach Bert van Marwijk’s team arrived at soccer’s version of the “Final Four” without playing with the verve and panache of other Oranje outfits.

Using an airtight defense, a few timely plays from the ever-present Wesley Sneijder, and a key blunder by Brazil’s goalkeeper Julio Cesar in the quarterfinals, Holland worked its way to the semifinals without a lot of razzle-dazzle. The series of events might have soured some internationals on The Netherlands, but for anyone in Amsterdam or other places where Dutch is spoken, the ability to go deep into a World Cup mattered most. As this new-look squad took on uber-underdog Uruguay in Cape Town, the challenge was to avoid the surprising loss that has dogged Holland in past World Cups. With one more survival act against an opponent they were expected to beat, van Marwijk’s men would reach the World Cup final and add some bottom-line ballast to the Oranje’s record in international competition.

By the skin of their teeth, they managed to do just that.

Holland didn’t produce the best 95-minute canvas (including stoppage time) you’ll ever see, but the heavy favorite created just enough special stuff to ensure an all-Europe World Cup final for the second straight time. Two of the Oranje’s goals were absolutely spectacular on Tuesday night in a city originally founded by the Dutch.

Captain and defensive stalwart Giovanni van Bronckhorst struck the goal of the tournament in the 18th minute. Standing outside the front left corner of the penalty box, van Bronckhorst uncorked a diagonal dandy of a shot. With absolutely no sidespin but a few vertical rotations, his left-footed missile rose before dipping at the last instant. The shot kissed the inside of the right post about one foot underneath the crossbar. The placement essentially landed the ball in the very corner of the goal frame, with the bounce off the post putting the ball past the goal line. The van-bomb by van Bronckhorst was soccer’s “perfect shot,” a long-range attempt that would generally be thought of as low-percentage in nature, but which would have beaten any world-class goalkeeper. Replays showed that Uruguayan netminder Fernando Muslera might have gotten a finger or two on the ball, but the power of the shot required a full hand in order to steer it off course.

Then came the second glorious goal, the one that wound up making the difference for van Marwijk and Company.

After Uruguay’s superstar Diego Forlan tied the game in the 41st minute on a superb shot that still should have been stopped by Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg, the lads from Holland eventually regrouped. The first 25 minutes represented tough sledding for The Netherlands, as Uruguay’s defense remained resolute and the prospect of extra time began to enter into the minds of players and spectators alike. However, a devastating four-minute sequence crushed the South Americans and guaranteed that a European team will win the World Cup outside European borders for the very first time.

Holland’s second goal – scored by Sneijder in the 70th minute off a deflection – was both lucky and subject to an offside call. Robin van Persie didn’t touch Sneijder’s deflected shot, but he made an attempt to re-direct it, which should have made the linesman’s flag come up in a manner similar to the sequence that disallowed Paraguay’s goal in the quarterfinals against Spain. However, no flag was raised, and the Dutch earned a 2-1 lead. Then, however, came the goal which thrilled fans as much as the van Bronckhorst bullet an hour earlier.

Dirk Kuyt, just to the left on the penalty area, served a lovely cross to the middle of the box in the 73rd minute. Arjen Robben – roughly near the penalty spot – deftly took hold of the ball with his bald dome and headed the ball to the ground. The ball hit near the goal line just inside the left post. It then bounced off the inside portion of the post and into the net. The angle of the shot was at once surprising and severe. Much like van Bronckhorst’s shot, it hit a “coffin corner” of the goal mouth. Yes, it was the opposite corner, but a corner just the same. One long-distance kick painted the top-right corner, and this header from Robben found the bottom-left corner. Just the same, Muslera had no chance and could not be blamed for failing to make the save. Holland – with its second “wonder goal” of the night – owned a 3-1 lead and, as it turned out, the goal that would carry the Dutch to Sunday’s final battle.

Uruguay lost scoreboard leverage with that Robben goal, but the South Americans never lost heart, in keeping with their mindset throughout a fabulously successful tournament for coach Oscar Tabarez’s team. The men in light blue shirts struck paydirt in stoppage time when Maxi Pereira lashed a beautiful left-footed strike that beat Stekelenburg. Sneijder’s questionable goal might have given the Oranje the lead, but when Pereira scored in stoppage time, Robben’s amazing header loomed larger in this clamorous contest.

With the referee refusing to blow his whistle until five minutes of stoppage time had been played (two more than the FIFA sign-holder showed in the 90th minute of regulation), Uruguay – in search of a miraculous tying tally – penetrated the Dutch penalty box on a few occasions. However, a few orange-clad defenders blocked the desperate shots that came their way. A final Uruguayan surge was rebuffed by Holland, and at the end of the 95th minute, the sweet tweet resounded from the official’s whistle. The Dutch had indeed reached their the third World Cup final and their first since 1978, when Mario Kempes led Argentina to a home-soil triumph over the Total Football juggernaut that made Dutch soccer famous.

Holland might not have played its best game on Tuesday. This team might not be as sexy as the legends who have gone before, both in the 1970s and subsequent decades. However, one can’t deny the plain truth of the matter: The Dutch are back in the world’s single most important sporting event, the World Cup final. Pardon them if they don’t apologize for the scoreboard success that has evaded them for a third of a century.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer