Mexico vs Netherlands WC 2014

With Netherlands going into the match as clear favorites based on their current form, no one expected such a fight from the Latin American country, who haven’t reached the quarterfinals in their five consecutive previous appearances in the World Cup. But Netherlands proved that the match is not over until the last minute, with their cool heads, even though it was scorching hot in Fortaleza. Dutch team wouldn’t have survived the entire match without the cooling breaks, which were taken for the first time in this World Cup. It was not a great start for the Dutch with Nigel de Jong going off the field within first ten minutes of the first half due to injury. First half saw equal opportunities missed by both the teams. Mexican goal keeper Ochoa continued his good form from where he left off against Brazil, keeping the Dutch goal less. With minutes into the second half, Giovani put the Mexicans in the lead with a crisp goal into the corner of the nets. This brought the animated Mexican coach, Miguel Herrera into action. I just wonder how can a coach act so insane, whenever his team scores a goal. Mexicans totally went into defensive mode after scoring this goal, which turned out to be a very bad tactic costing them a place in the quarter finals. Luck was not favoring the Dutch with Vrij’s little contact off Arjen Robben’s corner kick, bounced off the cross bar due to the amazing reflexes from Ochoa. I was almost in a shock when Louis van Gaal substituted Robin van Persie with Klass-Jan Huntelaar in the 75th minute. It calls for a lot of courage to take out Persie that too when Netherlands was trailing! That turned out to be a decisive moment in the match with Huntelaar scoring the winning penalty kick. When the entire nation started losing its hope of going into the quarters, Sneijder rocketed one into the nets with just two minutes to go in regulation time. After so many saves in the match, Mexican goalie Ochoa was a mere spectator watching the ball crashing into the nets. Even after scoring the equalizer, Netherlands went for the kill to finish the match before the extra time. This lead Arjen Robben gaining a penalty kick which Huntelaar converted into a goal. Netherlands just WRAPped up Mexicans hope of making the quarters in the final 5 minutes of the match and they took one step closer towards winning this World Cup.