Anybody watching would have thought that the Dutch and Argentine teams had never met before; prior match talk of revenge for the events of 1978 were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps neither side received the memo? This evening’s second and last World Cup semi-final was altogether dilapidated, despite another European and South American showdown. It had been discussed that Messi and Robben were bound to conjure up some troublesome potions on the pitch, but it just didn’t happen. In fact, I can barely confirm spotting either man on the field. To be frank, extending the process of brushing my teeth before bed for an entire 90 minutes, then extra time, then penalties, might have been more fun.
With Barcelona and Bayern Munich goal-scoring gladiators both on the field, it was supposed to be a tense affair, especially for Louis van Gaal’s side, which normally create the winning combination with Robin van Persie also upfront. It has been queried throughout the tournament whether Messi could mimic Neymar in prowess; with his fancy footwork and smooth skillset, he often puts the remaining Argentinians to shame, but not tonight. I’m not convinced that, had Angel Di Maria been playing, things would have been radically different in favour of Argentina either. However, somehow, and I’ll never truly believe it, Argentina made it through to join my all-time favourites, Germany, on Sunday.
For Holland, where was the finesse and form so easily demonstrated in their group match against Spain? Their greatest asset was clearly Jasper Cillessen, who was confident throughout, despite an unfortunately poor handling of the penalties. I’m not even certain that Argentina had one really sterling player.
From the starting whistle, it all seemed clean. Enzo Pérez was in an unnatural position for Argentina, but managed to drift into the field, whilst his teammates all appeared content. Arjen Robben was fierce and taking no prisoners around the 5 minute mark, but that was soon tarnished, despite overall orange-shirted possession for the majority of the first half. Daley Blind was integral to begin with, and Dutch defence was fully functioning, keeping whizz-kid, Lionel Messi, at bay (though his contribution was second to most, and he was booed at points).
The 12th minute saw Wesley Sneijder’s first attempt for goal on behalf of Holland, but to no avail. His general ability was disastrous from this touch onwards; in fact, his free kicks were over-hit and unsightly. Van Gaal’s pleas for triumph were already spilling down the drain. For the alternate side, Messi was poised with a calm expression as he hit his first free kick of the game; he pelted a low ball directly at Cillessen, whilst coach, Alejandro Sabella, maintained a stern, defensive posture. This didn’t really alter.
Some fluidity derived from Holland whilst taking Argentina on the break, but the search for Robben never quite ended in the way they had hoped. Their tranquil demeanour was the opposite of Argentina’s feisty sense of urgency; to be one goal ahead would be a comfort to either team, yet both were gradually losing flow and aggression, as though it wasn’t really a semi-final. Despite this, Ron Vlaar was gladly putting pressure on Argentine players during the first half, and continued this well into the second, and even in glimmers of extra time. Javier Mascherano suffered a blow to the head fairly early on, but elected to commence play, which probably was a relief to Argentine fans and management alike. These two men were particularly decent for their countries in a game carrying virtually silent strikers.
In the remainder of the initial half, Argentina’s keeper, Sergio Romero, made several positive punching saves, at a time when some very hasty offside decisions were made. Ezequiel Lavezzi and Gonzalo Higuaín had a couple of good shots on goal, but it was all too straightforward for cool-headed Cillessen. The rest of the 45 minutes were underwhelming and motionless; where was the typical Messi magic? What about Robben? It was a far cry from his usual tyranny, and was not his bolshie self. I fail to accept that both leading footballers were let down by their average teams, because nobody was especially worse than anybody else this evening; it was all a bit bland and lacking real vigour.
The second half was much the same, despite a fluffed header and an awesome strike from Higuaín, which produced an illusion of a goal at the 74th minute. This was a shame for Argentina, though the outcome was no different eventually. However, Dutch costumes in the crowd were more impressive and worthy of applause than any shots on target for the Europeans. Although, at 90 minutes the Dutch were still trying, but Robben took one too many touches and, in hindsight, ruined an easy goal which would have sent his team through. By such time, Dirk Kuyt had become rather mediocre despite efforts, and van Persie had been substituted for Schalke 04’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, which ruled the Manchester United hotshot out of the later penalties.
Argentina advance
It was even further downhill for both sides in extra time; almost every player was looking dishevelled and unmotivated, even with such a huge prize awaiting one of them. Chanting fans in the crowd didn’t help either. Both squads were strong in their boxes, but absent up field. Extra time trailed into the dreaded, unspeakable penalty shootout, and terrible Dutch attempts impacted with superb strikes from Argentina, hammering one last nail in Holland’s coffin.
I’m aghast at quite how Argentina got through to the final with that sort of performance. Commiserations to a fruitful Dutch team, but now, we wait with baited breath for the grand battle that will be (I really hope so) the World Cup final
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