It was fitting that the final quarterfinal match of this World Cup came to this: nil-nil through regular time and thirty extra minutes, to be decided by penalties. It was a round that saw the high-scoring nature of the Group round fully give way to a generally conservative and low scoring pace (only Brazil scored two goals during the run of play in these Quarters). As a result, all eight group winners appeared quite evenly matched (there wasn't a margin of victory greater than 1 goal this round). So, scoreless penalties seemed about right. And when the 2010 runners-up from the Netherlands advanced past Costa Rica to a semi-final round that includes traditional powers Brazil, Germany, and Argentina, that also seemed right - in the end Cinderella gave us a few thrills and some electric new stars (I'm looking at you James Rodriguez, Guillermo Ochoa, and Costa Rica's own Keylor Navas), but the final four will be all about chalk. (This isn't all that surprising to those of you who kept up with Bloomberg Sport's pre-tournamanet statistical analysis.)
In the final review, the star of this show may have been Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal, who pulled starting keeper Jasper Cillessen in the final moments of extra time for 6'4" Tim Krul - clearly with impending penalties in mind. The fact that the coach still had a sub available and used it on a goalie was a bit of a surprise, but one that certainly paid off as the lanky substitute made two dramatic saves to put the Oranje through. Krul made his first save against Ticos captain Bryan Ruiz in the second round, diving to his left and knocking a mediocre effort from Ruiz aside. Meanwhile, the three-headed Oranje monster of Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben, and Wesley Sneijder went 1-2-3 to put the Dutch ahead 3-2. After matching goals in the fourth round, Krul delivered the "walk-off" save against Michael Umana in pretty much the same spot as the Ruiz save. One minute of extra time play and four penalties of action and the Dutch have a new hero to celebrate.
Tim Krul emerged from the quarter-finals as the Netherlands' new star, after guessing the correct direction on every Costa Rican penalty kick and saving two (Photo: @FIFAWorldCup | Twitter)
While it has been thrilling to see 4000-1 longshot Costa Rica's deep run, in this game, it was hard to argue with the end result. The Oranje certainly had the better of play, particularly in the final 10 minutes of regular time. In that span Dutch hearts were broken multiple times as they hit the post twice and generally peppered man-of-the-match Costa Rican keeper Keylor Navas. Certainly Van Persie, Robben, and Sneijder were the class of the non-keepers this day. The first of the late-game posts came off a rocket free kick just outside the 18 from Wesley Sneijder. That kick was earned by Arjen Robben doing Arjen Robben things, namely demonstrating masterful one-on-one skill to gain an advantage and then dramatically flying to the turf as soon as a defender made contact. The second Oranje post came on a slowly rolling cross that somehow made it to Van Persie's feet at the far post after going through what appeared to be all 20 players on the field. This time Van Persie's shot was saved right on the goal line not by Navas, but by Ticos midfielder Yeltsin Tejada, who deflected the shot up and off the crossbar and ultimately out of danger.
In between, Van Persie had two other point blank chances - one a cross from Sneijder where he failed to make contact while being pressured from a Costa Rican defender, another on a well-struck shot to the near post deflected by Navas. After earning his coffee as a closer in the Group Stage - including a candidate for best goal and best meme of the tournament – Van Persie's been held scoreless on numerous chances in the knockout play so far, something that is surely to be weighing on the minds of Oranje fans heading into the semis.
Overall the Dutch also seemed to be more in control in extra time, with their best chance coming with Sneijder hitting another post - this time the crossbar - in the 118th minute. Surprisingly, that opportunity came against the run of play in the final five minutes of extra time as Costa Rica found, what would you say, a 15th wind and had two promising scoring chances including a rocket shot turned away by Dutch starting keeper Cillessen just before being pulled for the shootout savant Krul.
Regular time was marked by Dutch domination with the occassional moment of inspiration from The Ticos. After 15 minutes of Dutch control, Costa Rica created their first real positive momentum of the second half, and may have a case that they deserved a penalty kick that had a good chance to change the nature of this game. In an unusual turn of events for this game, Costa Rica built up an attack from the back coming out of a goal kick. A great give-and-go down the left side freed up Junior Diaz on a long run to the corner. His cross seemed destined for the fleet feet of Joel Campbell who was heading for the near post when Netherlands back Bruno Martins Indi came through his back on a challenge that sent the Costa Rican star sprawling in the box. No call - no moment of glory for the relatively stymied Campbell (Campbell came off shortly thereafter seemingly exhausted). A blistering Ticos free kick that sailed over a few minutes later (on a very similar foul from Martins Indi that happened to come outside the box) and a missed diving header from the far post 5 minutes later, and the Costa Ricans seemed to have some sustained momentum for the first time in the game.
This first half was a forth and occassionally back affair. The Oranje had the best of things, producing several promising attacks and putting Navas to the testwith frequency. However, the emergent star was up to the task every time. Foiling Snjeider on a bending free kick, surviving Robben's corners, and stuffing Van Persie on multiple occasions. Costa Rica's only threats came on the counterattack, making occassional forays into the Dutch side, but generally focusing on maintaining their defensive shape and trying to keep the superior talent of the Oranje at bay. But, alas, like Ochoa and Tim Howard before him, Navas' magic in the net was ultimately not enough to overcome the firepower of the Oranje.
