LOUIS VAN GAAL’S new employers are off to tour the United States of America on Tuesday but the Dutch coach had a World Cup semi-final in his sights. Costa Rica, meanwhile, were hoping their World Cup dream continues.
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Welcome along to our live coverage of Holland’s quarter final clash with Costa Rica. I’ll get us started with a heart-warming image of RVP, friend to the animals, children and once again hopeful Manchester United supporters.
Here are your two teams:
COSTA RICA: Navas, Gamboa, Díaz Campbell, Umaña, Gonzalez, Acosta, Ruiz, Tejeda Valverde, Campbell, Borges, Bolaños.
HOLLAND: Cillessen, Depay, Kuyt, Martins Indi, Vlaar, de Vrij, Wijnaldum, Blind, Sneijder, van Persie, Robben.
Check out this belter of a quote from Costa Rica quote (student of the Fergie School of Pressuring Referees) Jorge Luis Pinto, on Arjen Robben. He told AFP:
We’re really worried about [Robben diving]. I would like to ask FIFA and the referees to watch Robben closely. I think Robben is one of the three or four best players in the world. I have a website, jorgeluispinto.com where I analyse him as a player. He’s amazing, he’s a great player. But on the other hand there have been refereeing mistakes and the referees need to watch out.”
What’s the name of your website again Jorge?
All three of the big RTE pundits have tipped Holland to win out. Hope someone can cheer this chap up soon.
#ruthlessdutch sounds like a character Daniel Day Lewis would play to chilling, Oscar nominated perfection.
KICK-OFF
2 mins - Ron Vlaar seeing a lot of the ball as Holland stroke the ball around without too much intent. Robben is buzzing about though. Probing the CR defence with runs in behind.
3 mins - de Vrij with the game’s first cynical foul. Long range pop from Costa Rica but wide it goes.
5 mins - Robben comes looking for the ball off Martins Indi in the centre of the pitch. He sets Depay off down the left but the move breaks down. Robben goes down too easy… NO FOUL, lots of cheers and jeers.
8 mins - Great footwork by van Persie and pass by Kuyt. Robben gets in behind the CR defence and earns the game’s first corner. Headed clear though.
9 mins - van Persie penalised for pushing in the Cr box as he tried to fashion room for a shot. He hates people being in his space.
This sums up the first 12 minutes aptly.
14 mins - Shame to see Costa Rica show ZERO attacking intent so far. Kuyt whips in a deep cross but it is headed clear with Depay setting himself for a volley.
16 mins - Bryan Ruiz almost in but he can’t beat the covering defender outside the Dutch box and the chance is lost.
RVP’s mascot looks like Richard Ayoade from The I.T Crowd:
20 mins - Bolaños gets down the right and whips in a good cross that Vlaar gets to first (ahead of Ruiz) to clear for a throw.
21 mins - First real chance of the game as van Persie then Sneijder test Navas. RVP had the best of the two chances but Navas saved well with his legs. The rebound was straight down his gullet.
24 mins - Harsh, marginal offside call against van Persie after Kuyt tried to connect with him. Depay looking isolated, meanwhile, on the left wing. Dutch trust issues.
CLOSE! 28 minutes on the clock and van Persie slides in Depay but his low, left-footed drive is saved by Navas. Another shot blocked with the legs.
Meanwhile in the Airtricity League, feisty goings-on in my native Tallaght:
32 mins - Good set-piece coming up for CR…
33 mins - Scratch that. Cillessen claims as it was lumped in too high. Robben was one-on-two but looking dangerous until he got tangled up and gave away a free out.
34 mins - Ooh! Very close to chaos in the Dutch box. Bolaños whips in a better free, it gets nodded into the six yard box, there is a missed overhead and the ball is hacked clear. Robben wins his first free after he was chopped on the break. Nothing comes from it.
37 mins - Free from 30 metres out for Holland. Robben eyes it up…
FLYING SAVE BY NAVAS!
38 mins - Robben steps over, Sneijder strikes but there is no beating Navas as he tips it around the post. Corner is headed clear.
40 mins - All Holland now with CR playing a 5-4-1 and all but Ruiz back and within 40 metres of their goal.
42 mins - Navas rushes off his line to slide in and nick the ball from van Persie’s toes.
44 mins - We look like we are heading to half-time scoreless. Holland pressing for one last sight of goal but the Central Americans looking disciplined.
HALF-TIME
The best chances were Dutch but Costa Rica will be satisfied with their first-half performance.
This was the best save of Navas’ bunch. Don’t know what Sneijder is up to.
This cheered me up during the break:
Whoops!
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Second half KICKS OFF
46 mins - Navas you slick mo’fo. Backpass down his throat and he chests it before volleying a 50 yard pass straight to a teammate.
47 mins - Cillessen was allowed to kick a free-kick to himself there before passing to Martins Indi. That’s okay, right?
Wonder what Kevin Keegan would make of all this ultra defensive last eight inaction?
50 mins - Push on RVP by Gonzalez right under the ref’s nose but it goes unpunished. Holland could do with popping Robben into centre mid for a while.
51 mins - Robben scythed by two Costa Ricans and George Hamilton claims he was embellishing. Tripe. He then talks about the Dutchman possibly going for judo lessons so he can learn how to fall without injuring himself.
The winger whips in a cross and Sneijder blasts over after it is partially cleared.
55 mins - van Persie wins another corner. Robben whips it in. De Vrij heads it off a Costa Rican back, or was that an elbow. Claims waved away regardless.
This guy!
57 mins - Blind cuts out a hopeful CR punt and defence soon turn into meandering attack. Can they hold out for the 90, nay 120 minutes though?
Robben with great control, tries to tee-up Kuyt but he is not able to get a shot away.
58 mins - Sneijder’s poor cross is rewarded with a corner but it is cleared. This picture (below) is the onlt CR chance of the match. It happened in the first-half.
60 mins - Martins Indi with a gentle nudge on Campbell as the ball is cut back into the Dutch box. The Arsenal man wants a penalty but it would have been a kitten-soft call from the Uzbek ref.
61 mins - Free some 32 yards out and Bolaños balloons it over.
64 mins - Costa Rica having a look-see and Martins Indi earns a yellow card for trying to swap jerseys with Ruiz far, far too early in the game.
Bolaños floats in a dangerous free and Borges, acute angle, six yards out, heads over. Good chance.
Serious lack of Vine-worthy material so far but this piece of control from Robben was pretty… pretty.
https://vine.co/v/MU0LQ2JPpUi
68 mins - Robben is Holland’s only hope, it seems. He bursts up the left and links up with van Persie before the ball is thwonged (my new word) out for a corner. It is swung in, causes some worry but skittles out of the box.
Joel Campbell was replaced by another ‘striker’ a couple of minutes ago, one Marco Ureña. He has not scored a club goal for the past three seasons. Yikes!!
74 mins - Promising free-kick position out near the left wing after Blind got a kung-fu kick in the back of the nosh. Vlaar gets his brickish head on the cross but the ball zooms about three yards over Navas’ bar.
75 mins - Jeremain Lens (five goals in the qualifiers) comes on for Memphis Depay.
Holland or The Netherlands debate going on in the comments section. The country is The Netherlands. The football team is known as Holland.
77 mins - Robben earns Holland’s sixth corner of the game. He has won all but one of them. The outswingers have not connected. Perhaps they should go short… no, they don’t. Another headed clearance.
79 mins - Lens misses a doozy but he is offside. Free header from 12 yards but Navas beats it away. The CR goalkeeper has only been beaten once in open play all tournament.
81 mins - VERY CLOSE TO A PENALTY as Robben is clipped on the angle by Gonzalez. Sneijder to take the free.
OFF THE POST!!
82 mins - If you beat Navasm you can’t beat the post! Great, curling free but it hits the frame. Rebound fell to Vlaar but he could not scoop a shot on target.
83 mins - Robben whips one in. Another free, this time from the right. Van Persie shows superb footwork, shoots with his right and Navas stops him again. Great duel between those two. Six to go…
86 mins – You have to hand it to Robben. He is still motoring. Back in defence there, nipped in with a tackle and broke up-field.
88 mins - Costa Rica reserving their energy for extra time? All Holland now.
HUGE MISS… FRESH AIR from van Persie at the back post. Great cross from Sneijder and that is a sitter. Side-foot swing and a miss from five yards out.
INTO INJURY TIME
Robben hacked down for the zillionth time by Diaz, already on a yellow.
90 +2 mins - Van Persie free is double-punched free. Then…
Pure bedlam! RVP so close but a defender on the line thigh muscles it onto the crossbar. Tejeda the hero.
90 +3 mins - Robben could have dropped near the box but he stays up, finds Kuyt out wide. Cross in but headed out. Game over, for now.
FULL-TIME and we’re off to EXTRA-TIME…
Here is that RVP miss and that Tejeda block on the line:
vine.co/v/MUEbhDE3Ydj
This image has littered the game. Robben has been a dynamo and has fleeted around with a target on his back/ankles/feet.
EXTRA TIME KICKS OFF…
93 mins - De Vrij with a meaty challenge to set up an attack. Kuyt wins Holland another corner. Vlaar with the downward header but that man Navas is there again.
Corner No.8 coming up…
94 mins - Navas comes and flaps at a cross. It bounces off Kuyt’s chest and bounces out for another corner. The ‘keeper got lucky there. No he is down claiming injury.
Eamon Dunphy, by the way, said this at the break in play: ‘The World Cup proves great football powers no longer great’. Remind us again Eamon who the three sides already in the semis are?
The miss (not the crossbar rattler) that may haunt van Persie until he goes completely grey.
97 mins - Vlaar gets lucky as he clumsily tries to usher Urena down a blind alley in the box. Minimal contact but he should not have bungled in with his knees like that.
101 mins - Ruiz down but not seriously injured. Whistles and postulations from the CR players force Sneijder’s hand and he kicks the ball out for treatment. 20 seconds later and Ruiz is back on the pitch and ambling about.
102 mins – Bizarre free given as Robben’s shot hits Diaz’ back.
104 mins - Robben booms it off the wall. Looks as if we are going into the second half of E.T scoreless.
Two minutes of added time in extra time, at the end of the first period. Interesting stat this.
105 +2 mins - The last cross in (of the half) is punched clear by Navas who looks ropey when he leaves his goal-line.
Great picture of Robben in full flight.
LVG TACTICAL SUB ALERT: Defender Martins Indi is off. Striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar is on.
107 mins - Big Robben dive. Acosta will get a yellow but there was nothing in that and the winger went down clutching his stubbly head.
108 mins - Free goes back post. Vlaar the wrong man in the right place. Holland attack again. Kuyt to Robben. Cleared for corner No. 10 but a stooping Huntelaar heads over.
109 mins - Urena has put in a decent shift up front. Niggly, nothing more.
110 mins - RVP slides one in but Huntelaar does not react. Both men glare at each other.
111 mins - Huntelaar sees yellow after mauling a forearm over Navas beautiful Costa Rican face. He is seriously stalling the ball.
112 mins - Bolaños almost jinks his way through but there is a l;ast-ditch clearance. Lens is offside AGAIN and Navas saves AGAIN.
115 mins - Vlaar slides in with Valverde to earn his team a throw-in. Costa Rica then earn their first corner of the match.
The corner sucks lemons and limes and almost hits the other corner flag.
116 mins - URENA…. SO CLOSE!!! He jinks by his marker and forces Cillessen into a fine save with his legs.
117 mins - Robben has a shot blocked by a defender. Moments later, Lens earns another corner.
118 mins - OFF THE BAR BY SNEIJDER!!!!
118 mins - He cut inside and rattled the wood-work. What do Holland have to do to score?!
119 mins - Costa Rican fans dancing in the stands. Looking forward to penalties. The Dutch have some pretty decent takers I’d imagine.
120 +1 mins - Offside number 13. TACTICAL LVG SUB… Goalkeepet Tim Krul on for Cillessen. Insanity.
FULL-TIME and we have PENALTIES…
Krul on for the penalties. This could be a Colonel Kurtz moment of Amazonian madness/brilliance by LVG.
Borges… SCORES. Krul was close though.
COSTA RICA 1-0 HOLLAND
Robin van Persie… SCORES. Squeaks it in.
COSTA RICA 1-1 HOLLAND
Bryan Ruiz… MISS! Krul saves!!
COSTA RICA 1-1 HOLLAND
Arjen Robben… SCORES. Emphatic.
COSTA RICA 1-2 HOLLAND
Gonzalez… SCORES. Krul guesses right again but it was well placed.
COSTA RICA 2-2 HOLLAND
Sneijder… SCORES. Left and in, same as Robben.
COSTA RICA 2-3 HOLLAND
Bolaños… SCORES. Thumps it left. Krul guessed right again but too high for him.
COSTA RICA 3-3 HOLLAND
Kuyt… SCORES!
COSTA RICA 3-4 HOLLAND
Umaña… MISS. Krul saves it!!!
LOUIS VAN GAAL IS A GENIUS!
COSTA RICA 3-4 HOLLAND
HOLLAND ARE THROUGH TO THE SEMIS.
Best 0-0 draw I’ve witnessed in a while. Cheers for the company. Stay with us tonight and in the early hours for post-match reaction and comments. Enjoy the rest (five minutes) of your Saturday.
