The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Oranje squeezed, but hand Uruguay defeat

Expert
7th July, 2010
3

As our own teams start to drop out of World Cups, it’s in our nature to go looking for a sentimental favourite to support. Earlier today it seemed that the two main candidates were on the same side of the draw. One rarely puts ‘sentimental’ and ‘Germany’ in the same sentence.

Everyone loves an underdog, and Netherlands and Uruguay both qualified.

Netherlands have always been an impressive football nation given their tiny size and population, and their efforts to compete prompt admiration.

Add to that the fact they’ve been to two finals but never taken the prize. So close yet so far. People love redemption stories.

This team was one of the least-fancied Netherlands teams in many a World Cup, but have played with a self-belief and control that some of their predecessors would have envied.

Uruguay too are classic underdogs, and classic sentimental material. The inaugural winners in 1930, and astonishingly victorious over Brazil in 1950, Uruguay have been footballing minnows in the modern era.

To have reached the semis they’ve been punching way above their weight. Perhaps Luis Suarez took the punching too literally, but Uruguay too have played with skill and unshakeable self-belief.

No doubt Suarez’ forehand smash cost his team some fans, but he might have won them some as well.

Advertisement

Yes, it was blatant cheating.

At the same time, the desperation of the save and the willingness to sacrifice himself had something to be admired about it. In its very blatantness was a kind of charm, and it personified his team’s commitment this campaign.

The question was, had Suarez cost his team their chance at progressing as well as delivering them victory? He and Diego Forlan had been the two keys for Uruguay’s entire tournament.

With him, his team might have challenged the Dutch. But without him? Did Suarez’ handball against Ghana save his team, or did it merely cost both teams their shot at a World Cup final?

Well.

Whether Suarez’ presence would have made any difference, it soon seemed that Urugay may be on the way out. But it took the goal of the tournament to light up the Exit sign.

Played wide on the left flank, Giovanni van Bronckhorst screamed in absolutely stunning strike, from well over 30 yards, that seared across the face of goal and across the keeper, flicking his fingertips en route to the far post, and from there to the back of the net. It was a piece of eye fillet football after a first 17 minutes that were more Four N Twenty pie.

Advertisement

The scrappiness continued throughout the first half, with a raft of missed passes and awkward forward moves. The inexplicable inclusion of the desperately out-of-form Robin van Persie reaped its likely rewards, as the striker proved unable to produce a quality touch.

At the other end, Martin Caceres saw yellow after an athletic bicycle kicked missed the ball but copped Demy de Zeeuw in the mouth. Wesley Sneijder too was carded for his remonstration with the Uruguayan.

Gradually though, Uruguay started to build some forward pressure. Caceres didn’t help matters, hitting the dirt as regularly as lightning whenever an orange shirt came near.

But as he showed in the Germany-Argentina game, referee Ravshan Irmatov is no sucker for modern theatre.

It was always going to take something special from Forlan in the absence of his attacking wingman, but the Atletico Madrid striker is in a vein of form as rich as a Kakadu uranium deposit. As Uruguay gradually raised the standard of play, it fell to him to kick things up to another level.

Floating into space on the right, the Uruguayan skipper had all the time in the world to line up the goals for a curling left-foot strike. The flapping of the net was the inevitable result.

The Dutch had slackened a little after their early advantage, and paid the price. Half time came with honours very even, but La Celeste would have gone in with more of a spring in their step.

Advertisement

Dirk Kuyt started the second half with a dangerous run forward before van Bronckhorst was whistled offside. The sideline refs in this Cup have been all over the most marginal of calls, and you wonder whether it’s in the best interests of the game to be erring on the side of conservatism, or that of rewarding attack.

Dutch hearts were in mouths as keeper Maarten Stekelenburg rushed out to clear from the feet of Caceres and left the goal exposed, with the ball still bobbling dangerously nearby. But the Uruguayan striker bit the dust as though he’d had Queen on his iPod pre-game, and by the time Maximiliano Pereira arrived to curl toward goal, van Bronckhorst had got back to head clear.

The heroes against Brazil, Arjen Robben and Sneijder, were yet to have any substantial impact, while Forlan was chasing and tackling like a man possessed, with a look of grim determination on his face.

Van Persie’s comical tournament continued when he somehow won a free kick for tripping over himself, but the resulting dead-ball was headed wide.

Kuyt and van Bronckhorst were the only Dutch players to catch the eye, in a team that looked more functional than fluid. The men in blue continued to look more dangerous, with long throws, corners, and fast counter-attacks.

On 67 minutes another Caceres off-Broadway piece saw Forlan curl a superb free kick at Stekelenburg , but the Dutch keeper dived to his right to save. The Dutch streamed up the other end, only for Fernando Muslera to save brilliantly from van der Vaart, and Robben to blaze over from the rebound.

But three minutes later it was a different story. Having the ball squared to him, Sneijder lashed a low shot into the box.

Advertisement

Muslera’s view of the incoming ball was blocked by van Persie wrestling with his marker, as the ball clean-bowled both striker and defender, and trickled into the far corner of the net. For once van Persie’s failure to get a touch had done his team some good.

Three minutes after that, it was game on orange, game over blue. A pinpoint cross found Robben in the box and the Dutch talisman sent a perfect header against the near post and in. They may have been a little late, but Holland’s two main men had finally come to the party. And brought a crate of champagne with them.

It could have been four shortly afterward, but for van Persie being called for another marginal offside as he squared to Sneijder right in front. Caceres milked another yellow card for Khalid Boulahrouz, then Robben lost the ball on a surging run. The pace was picking up.

Forlan was surprisingly subbed off in the 83rd minute, when surely the captain’s quality was the only thing that might have produced a late miracle. Whether he was injured was unclear, but he seemed to be moving freely. The man who replaced him, Sebastian Fernandez, almost had a chance immediately, but saw Stekelenburg fall on the ball just ahead of him.

Then it was Robben’s turn on the counter, as his flick lacked the pace to beat Muslera at short range. A cross in the last minute of normal time failed to find Sneijder. Netherlands could realistically have had five or six by now, while Uruguay’s final minutes hadn’t been too threatening.

A minute into injury time and all that changed, as Uruguayan hopes flickered back to life. A superbly set up long free kick was taken, with a fake at the box and then a low pass to Pereira as he charged forward.

The defender, who had missed his spot-kick in the Ghana shoot-out, made no mistake with a powerful shot from the edge of the area, somehow finding a way through the crowd of players to Stekelenburg’s left corner.

Advertisement

With just two minutes to play the pace was desperate, as Uruguay bombed the box again and again. Mark van Bommel was carded for time-wasting as Uruguay went forward. But there was to be no late miracle for Uruguay this time. While the ball ricocheted around their attacking penalty area, no decisive touch could be found. The Dutch cleared as the whistle blew, and Forlan was left to lament as the lowlanders celebrated.

Uruguay’s brave campaign is over, but they have plenty to be proud of. Theirs is a team largely devoid of stars, but where each player makes a contribution. Suarez might have misinterpreted the phrase ‘all hands on deck’, but the sentiment has worked for his team.

Netherlands, meanwhile, have bigger things ahead. Just as against Brazil, they refused to panic when the flow of the game turned against them, and finished looking fully convinced of their ability to win.

Having disposed of the best South America has to offer, next will come one of the giants of European football, and it remains to be seen whether the Oraanje, now inevitable crowd favourites, can squeeze the last bit of juice from their campaign.

close