THE DUTCH LAND A SPOT IN THE WORLD CUP FINAL

in World Cup by Itai — July 7, 2010 at 5:28 am | 1 comment

For the third time (’74, ’78, ’10), Holland has advanced to the World Cup final, and will face the winner of the Spain-Germany match tomorrow in Johannesburg.

The offensive presence of the missing Uruguay striker Luis Suarez who is serving a one-game suspension, was missed by his squad who fell 3-2 to the Dutch.

Holland defender and team captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst opened up the scoring early. In the 18th minute, Van Bronckhorst found the back of the net from 42 yards out with a shot that whistled past Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera at 58-mph.

The 35 year-old Van Bronckhorst who has announced that he will retire following the World Cup, is now the second-oldest player to score in a World Cup semifinal.

Just four minutes before the break, Uruguay striker Diego Forlan scored his team’s first of two goals on the day. Forlan played extremely well for his club Atletico Madrid last season, but has now emerged on an even bigger stage as one of the world’s best goal scorers.

Later in the 70th minute of play, Holland midfielder Wesley Sneijder squeaked in another goal to put his squad up 2-1. Sneijder’s five goals are now tied with Spain’s David Villa for the most in this year’s tournament.

Three minutes later, Arjen Robben added one more goal to the Holland side after receiving a cross from Dirk Kuyt, putting the Dutch up on Uruguay 3-1.

In the 92nd minute, Uruguay’s Maxi Pereira made the match a little more interesting after he slipped one past and into the bottom left corner of the net. His efforts came just a little too late, however. Moments later, the final whistle blew and Uruguay’s dreams of being crowned World Cup champions came to a screeching halt.

“If you win the final, you make yourself immortal, at least in our country,” Robben said. “We will do everything we can to take the Cup back.”

Now one game away from being crowned kings, the Netherlands face one last test with the winner of the Spain vs. Germany semifinal match on Sunday afternoon.

“We are so close,” Sneijder said. “There is nothing bigger than the World Cup.”

The tournament commenced with 32 teams, and Holland knows that they are now one of the final two. It’s not by chance that a team arrives in the World Cup final. The Dutch belong in this match, plain and simple.

“This is very special,” Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk said. “After 32 years we play the final again. Such a small country! We can be very proud of this.”

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