Argentina into World Cup final after beating the Netherlands on penalties

I think this is an issue for the England team BP. There is no experience from foreign leagues. The diversity (or lack there of), seems to be an issue. Does anyone know of any current English players playing top level abroad?

No need to worry about the hypotheticals. Given that the Krul substitution vs Costa Rica happened and it worked... what's the right way to coach Holland vs the Argies? If Val Gaal recognised a problem with Cillesson's ability to stop shots (as he'd already made clear with Krul in the last game), then he has a number of options for the next game: #1 - Bench Cillesson and start Krul instead, or #2 - If option #1 isn't chosen, make bl00dy-well certain 1 sub is kept available for Krul to come on at the last moment if the game is about the go to penalties, or #3 - If option #1 isn't chosen and if option #2 doesn't work (like somebody gets injured), then perhaps Van Gaal should have changed his players or his formation with the aim of winning the game before it goes to penalties? Van Gaal ended up letting himself get stuck into having to depend on a keeper who he'd practially already said wasn't good enough.

Fuss - In an indirect way you are criticising these last two Dutch games by telling us about how many goals they have scored in previous World Cup games and qualifiers. Where did all the "magic" go in these last 2 appearances?.Ok ,they did hit the bar a couple of times against Costa Rica but this latest display defied description, in fact it caused some very strange questions to be posed about the team and how it was set-up for this game. Personally after the Costa Rica game I could see no reason at all as to why Van Persie held his place. The number of times he was caught offside was disgraceful for a player of his standing and he,through a lack of effort,saw his teamate Robben almost run himself into the ground.If anything he was even worse against Argentine and one has to start and question Van Gaal's reasoning in playing him in the first place never mind leaving him on as long as he did. Then there was the deployment of Kuyt,a former forward of some standing,being used as a "man for all seasons".The man is tireless but moving him from the right wingback role to the left was within minutes shown as a boo-boo of the highest degree, for, he was showing the world that his preference is to play the ball with his right foot,and as a result the attack down the left was severely blunted. Then there was the penalty shoot out. With sharpshooters like Robben and Kuyt (who both despatched their kicks with excellence) why would one choose to start the sequence with a centre back,not a very shrewd choice IMO especially when one considers the psychology of the situation,never mind what may have been displayed on the training paddock. Some have asked here what Man Utd fans may be thinking after witnessing these 2 games and well their fears may be warranted for this Dutch team IMO committed "suicide" in a World Cup that as you say,started so well and yet ended in complete disarray as they tried to stifle an opponent at a huge cost to their own performance and potential. A huge disappointment. Wonder what the late ,great ADS would have thought about this World Cup semi-final had he still been with us?.jb

Which would be possibly the best thing we can imagine for Greece. Remember, when you play poker and look around the table, you need to answer the question of 'who is the bunny ?'. In high finance, it is easier. The bunny is always the German regional and commercial banks. Regrettably, the EU decided to reward the German regional and commerical banks for their incompetance (I mean really, lend money to the Greek government ... okay. Lend money to the Greek government at 75 basis points over what the Germans are paying ? WTF ?)

I barrack for them, but Australia certainly didnt disgrace themselves at this World Cup :) Go the Socceroos - we'll do em next time.

A cheap shot. Ok, I'll nail my colours the the mast: I don't think Messi is even close to Maradona. Nor is Ronaldo. And if we're talking Ronaldo, I think the Brasilian Ronaldo,at his best, left the Portuguese pretender in the shade.

Only someone with a significant brain injury could think that. Or not think it, as the case may be.

Unbeleivable Fuss, the socceroos have along way to go. And rugby in Argentina does too, some rugby fans think rugby will overtake soccer Argentina like that, no chance, and maybe never will.

This is what a football nation looks like when they qualify for the Final of the World Cup. Buenos Aires last night after Argentina qualified... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsLOaumCIAAwL8I.jpg

Algeria held Germany out for 90' without any problems & created more goal chances than Germany. Interestingly, Argentina's defence has been the stingiest at WC 2014: a) has not been behind any of their 6 opponents for even 1 second b) 4 clean sheets (from 6 matches) c) not conceded a single goal in the knock out phase of WC2014 d) conceded a total of 4 goals - only once conceded more than 1 goal (Nigeria)

Didn't see West Germany v Austria in 82 then?

If Holland were playing for penalties they wouldn't have made that last sub - kept VP on and brought on their penalty stopper specialist in the last minute. I think Holland were simply unable to penetrate and didn't quite have the nerve to risk conceding an easy goal by pushing higher up.

Yeah but if Van Gaal didn't make the change. Would Netherlands even progress past Costa Rica? Whose to say that Cillessen wouldn't look equally unconfident during the penalty shootout against Costa Rica and Netherlands were eliminated especially when I believe that Cilessen never saved a penalty in professional football I believe. We would never know what would happen if Krul substitution never happen and it's the type of thing that could go either way

That just proves he bet too much on the Costa Rica game. Forced subs or not the lack of confidence shown in his number one had an effect in the shoot out for me.

Isn't it funny how there are Spanish and German players playing in La Liga, EPL, Bundesliga, yet the English players only play in the EPL? Apart from the fact the English players are grossly overvalued and I doubt clubs in other countries are crazy enough to pay such high fees for those players, does anyone think any of the England squad would be wanted by one of the big clubs in Spain, Italy or Germany?

I wonder if Messi could get away with scoring with a handball in the final?

Seems like everyone in Germany haven't been impressed by Ozil and don't want him to start. If they get their wish, it seems likely that another EPL player Schurrle would replace him. The other player who plays in this position is Podolski, another EPL (and Arsenal player). If you believe the english media, seems like it is Van Gaal's mission to sign half the German side for Man United (Hummels, Reus, Kroos, Khedira etc). Wenger also seems to be a big fan of the Germans, with 3 of them playing for Arsenal and likely to sign more!

Perhaps but if you look at it more closely the real problem was the effective forced subs of de Jong and Van Persie. Van Persie especially, I don't really understand why he was playing given he has obviously been out of sorts.

And this is a national side which is a very different kettle of fish from a club side. His Ajax and AZ teams were highly entertaining, his Bayern side weren't too shabby either.

Compared to Diego Armando Maradona, Messi has done very little in this tournament and for Argentina as a whole.