World Cup: Argentina overcome tremendous Dutch fight-back to progress to semis
Argentina beat the Netherlands to book their spot in the semi-finals
Who would have punted for both the night’s quarter final games going to extra time and then on to penalties?
We first saw Croatia oust Brazil from the spot and then Argentina dumped the Dutch out of the World Cup after a scrappy, ill-tempered match.
To be fair, the earlier game had far more drama than the late, late show and was much more watchable.
At least that was the case for neutrals. You wouldn’t have wanted to be an Argentinian support on a roller coaster ride from victory at a canter to having to dig deep and save it at the eleventh hour.
If this was cricket, we would be talking about a captain’s innings.
Lionel Messi provided the assist for the first goal and scored one penalty in regular play, plus the first for his team from the spot in the shootout.
The man who wears the number 10 on his shirt scored the perfect 10 for his all-round performance – grabbing his tenth World Cup goal in the process.
Argentina took the lead after half an hour with a gem, Messi threading a no-look pass that dissected the orange wall to play in Nahuel Molina, who stroked the ball past Andries Noppert.
Few would even have seen the opening, let alone find the angle.
Netherlands had dominated possession but with nothing to show for it changed their game plan in the second stanza, resorting to long aerial balls directed to the front men.
It seemed to be working but on 71 minutes, Dumfries was fooled by clever footwork from Acuna to concede a penalty, duly put away by Messi (2-0).
It was now or never for the Netherlands and they saw some light when substitute Weghorst headed home a cross (2-1) and Berghuis was inches wide with a ferocious strike soon after.
Peredes was lucky to still be on the field for Argentina after a terrible studs-up tackle then booting the ball at the players on the Netherlands bench.
The Dutch smashed the ball into the wall from the edge of the box in the 91st minute in what seemed to be their last chance, but another opportunity presented itself from the same spot in the 99th minute.
This time it was subtlety rather than power with a short pass to Weghorst standing in the wall. He swiveled and shot, got a lucky deflection and it was 2-2 and into extra time.
Argentina must have been shocked: from 2-0 up and already thinking of the semi-final against Croatia on Tuesday, they now had to battle through another 30 minutes with the tanks low on gas.
But they hammered away at the Dutch goal, Fernandez twice denied by Noppert and once hitting the post with pace.
And so to the lottery of penalties, with Virgil van Dijk stepping up first for the Netherlands. He struck it well enough but Martinez guessed right and saved at full stretch.
He would do exactly the same when Berghuis took the Dutch’s second penalty.
In the meantime, Messi and Peredes both tucked theirs away easily enough (2-0).
Koopmeiners got one back for Holland (2-1), Montial scored for Argentina (3-1) and Weghorst kept the orange team in with a sniff (3-2).
They were further encouraged when Fernandez dragged his spot kick wide and De Jongh rolled his home (3-3).
The Dutch had taken their five and Martinez stepped up to send Argentinian fans into ecstasy when he calmly slotted to make it 4-3.
They took the long route but, yes, they will face Croatia on Tuesday.
