How the mighty have fallen. For the second time in consecutive World Cup campaigns, a Brazilian side has been ejected by less-fancied European opposition at the quarter-finals stage.
In 2006 it was France’s Thierry Henry sliding a far post-winner past the Brazilian defence from a curling free-kick.
This edition may have as much curl as a piece of dry spaghetti, but again it was a set-piece doing the damage, with Wesley Sneijder notching the winner after Netherlands had trailed 1-0 at half time.
Brazil skipper Felipe Melo generously chipped in with an own goal and a self-imposed red card to help finally sink his team.
It could all have been so different after Brazil went ahead in just the 10th minute.
A long pass split a snoozing Dutch defence for Robinho to lean back and slot home his third tournament goal, with a wonderfully casual one-touch strike. Such was the Dutch disorganisation that Robben found himself in the unfamiliar position of marking the Manchester City striker just outside the defensive area, with nary a full-back in sight. Robinho easily shrugged him off, leaving Robben to vocally protest his innocence to the bench.
It was Felipe Melo whose incisive pass set up the goal, meaning he may just have had the busiest World Cup game since Marco Materazzi in the 2006 decider. In that match the Italian defender gave away the penalty that surrendered the lead to France, scored Italy’s equaliser, provoked Zinedine Zidane into a red card, then scored the final penalty in Italy’s shoot-out win.
You could see Dutch faces falling after conceding so early, and there was the distinct sense that this could become a blowout. But while the Dutch slumped back into their own half of the pitch for the rest of the first half, they were able to maintain enough determination to keep the South Americans at bay.
A few heart-in-mouth moments still followed, as Juan blazed wastefully over from a corner, and Oraanje keeper Maarten Stekelenburg broke out his Superman impersonation to knock away a strong Kaka strike from outside the box. But the Dutch managed to drag themselves to the halfway break while remaining in touching distance, and thereafter everything changed.
Sneijder has failed to sparkle in the World Cup thus far, after a stellar season with Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan. But he chose a hell of a day to deliver, lighting up the match with a brilliant second half display. While Sneijder was the man to provide the finish, he and Arjen Robben must take equal credit for hauling their team across the line.
Robben tormented the Brazilian defence line again and again with his run and footwork, as much of a focal point for his team as Messi has been for Argentina.
How crucial his quick recovery from injury has been.
While Robben’s theatrics when fouled are well documented, time and again he left the defenders with no option but to bring him to ground, meaning his team always looked threatening.
It was Robben pushing forward in the 53rd minute who made space for Sneijder behind him, then played the ball back to the Inter man, who swept a spearing cross goalward. Goalkeeper Julio Cesar came and saw, but couldn’t quite conquer, as a lack of communication saw Melo rise ahead of him to try and head the ball clear.
With Melo blocking his run, Cesar could only look on as the ball took a slight deflection from the midfielder into the net. Sneijder was harshly denied credit for the goal, which will instead go down in posterity as an own goal by Brazil’s skipper. Here’s hoping he has home insurance.
Then it was Robben and Sneijder combining again fifteen minutes later, as the Bayern Munich winger sent in a searing corner. Kuyt got a slight but crucial touch to flick the ball on, and Sneijder was there to power an unstoppable header into the Brazilian net.
That’s all it took for Brazil to implode. Frustration at Robben’s dominance finally boiled over – when Robben went to ground, Melo raked his studs down the back of the Dutchman’s leg, and was immediately ejected by Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura. Brazil needn’t have panicked, as they had the front-third quality to press for more goals, but the brain-freeze was crucial.
Naturally the men in blue continued to attack despite their deficit, and two frantic goalmouth scrambled were defused late in the piece by the calm hands of Stekelenburg.
But the sending off had caused sufficient disarray in the Brazilian ranks to hinder their efforts, and the sense was always that Netherlands remained in control. The orange masses danced, and the gold and blue were silenced for the first time this tournament.
A World Cup without Brazil always feels like it’s missing something, but on this display, Netherlands have thoroughly deserved to advance, and will be favourites to make the final against the winner of the Ghana-Uruguay match later today.
The only concern in the Dutch camp will be the dismal form of Robin van Persie, who yet again failed to provide anything incisive up forward. Despite being played into the box on several occasions, the Dutchman’s efforts to gather the ball and shoot resembled a giraffe trying to pick up a biro with its toes.
Remarkably it took until the 85th minute for him to be subbed off, but it would be a great surprise if he starts in the semi-final, especially given the underused and dangerous Dirk Kuyt could be brought into a more central role after a useful game today.
Other changes will be made in any case, with yellow cards for Gregory van der Wiel and Nigel de Jong meaning they will both be suspended for the next match.
For now, though, the Clockwork Orange ticks on.
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