WC MOTD: Netherland (4) 0-0 (3) Costa Rica

By on July 5, 2014

At the World Cup, you have to take risks. But risks make you look like a fool, until they are successful. Neither Costa Rica or the Netherlands looked like fools once this match was over. They both took risks – Costa Rica played the same way they have all tournament against a Netherlands side that is of quality that they hadn’t faced before – and while Costa Rica went home at the end, they hardly went down looking like fools. Their risk paid off when it was in use, and the South American side held the Netherlands goalless for one-hundred-and-twenty minutes while coming close multiple times themselves.
Only on penalties did they lose, and while penalties are far from lotteries, Costa Rica did nothing wrong, they just got unlucky in the shoot-out.

Unlucky, or as the Netherlands would like to call it outsmarted. The Dutch took their biggest risk here, in waiting until the final minute of extra-time to bring on a risky substitute – their penalty saving specialist Tim Krul for Jaser Cillessen, who had been in between the posts for the one-hundred-and-twenty minutes previous. Krul had hardly been given a proper introduction to the game, yet game on, dove the right way for all of Costa Rica’s five spot kicks, and made two match winning saves.

Yet Krul was not the only goalkeeper who had a good night. At the other end, Keylor Navas seemed to be the one thing between the Netherlands and a winner, all night. Halfway through the first half he made two brilliant saves, first parrying Robin Van Persie’s low effort from the left away before brining down Wesley Sneijder’s curling follow up effort. Possession was almost all in the hands of the Netherlands throughout the first half, and thirty-eight minutes in Navas was once again called to the rescue, acrobatically tipping Sneijder’s twenty-five yard free-kick wide to his right.

However, Costa Rica were not without breakaway chances at the other end, and Giancarlo Gonzalez headed over the bar early on in the second half. Yet the Dutch really began pushing forward towards the end of regulation time, with Sneijder’s free-kick from the left wing bouncing back into the mixer off the inside of the near post. Two minutes later and Navas blocked Van Persie’s effort low effort from a right angle to the right of goal following a scramble in the box, before the Manchester United forward completely missed a sitter at the far post from a low Sneijder cross from the left. But the best chance until extra-time came at the very end of the ninety minutes – Van Persie saw his half-volley at the far post, following a Daley Blind cross which avoided everybody, bounce off the knee of Yeltsin Tejeda on the line, and back out off the crossbar.

Thus, extra-time ensued. The Dutch one again pushed forward, finding Sneijder’s curling twenty yard effort smack off the crossbar in the dying seconds, yet Costa Rica also attempted to play “nice” football on the attack, with Urena seeing his lie snap-shot from the right side of the box saved by Cillessen. The Netherlands then only just won on penalties to seal themselves a spot in the Semifinals.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.