The Netherlands v Uruguay
The first disappointment of the night was when Kevin Keegan boldly tipped the Dutch to win this one. Oh, no! Lovely bloke, is Wor Kev, but he can't tip sugar. Never could. The BBC, meanwhile, despite not actually having the game to broadcast, reminded us of some previous wonderful Dutch moments. Nice touch. And every time I see that Ari Haan goal against Italy he seems to get further and further away from goal. One day soon, he'll be scoring from outside the ground!
Anyway, here were are in the semi-finals after two days of utterly mind-numbing tedium, at last, we have some football again. The first big surprise was that Tyldesley was doing the commentary all on his own as Jim Beglin was, apparently, sick in bed.
Well, he's spent three weeks locked in a commentary booth with Tyldesley, that's enough to make anybody sick. The opening twenty minutes were terrific, with a real ebb and flow to the game that climaxed in possibly the best goal of the tournament, Giovanni van Bronckhorst crashing one in from thirty five yards. That should have been the start of the party but, for whatever reason, the Dutch took their collective foot off the collective gas; the game got fractured and became niggly and with a slightly spiteful undertone. Then five minutes before half-time, Diego Forlan collected the ball thirty yards from the Netherlands goal, turned into space in a central position and let fly with a left-foot shot that seems to swerve in the air and bamboozle Maarten Stekelenburg, who could only help the ball one-handed high into his own net. That was unexpected.
The second half was tense, nervous. Edgy. And, again, a bit nasty in places. Late tackles, sly off the ball incidents. The Dutch looked a shambles at times, yet again on the verge of a major prize and in danger of blowing it, big-style.
Then, slowly, they started to get their shit together after Van der Vaart came on. There were a couple of close calls and finally another decent move led to a shooting chance for Wesley Sneijder and after it took a deflection off Maxi Pereira, Robin van Persie managed not to touch it as the ball flew past Fernando Muslera and into the bottom left-hand corner. Was van Persie offside when the ball was hit? It was very tight - it took half a dozen camera angles to so out that his foot probably was, fractionally off. Even if he was though, was he 'active'? A question worth asking. It seemed that opinion was divided on the matter. The referee and his assistant thought he wasn't, every Uruguayan in the world thought he was. No matter, it was 2-1 and the Dutch scented the blood of the lamb. 
Three minutes later and the Dutch were, effectively, one foot in the World Cup final, and there was no controversy about this one. Dirk Kuyt cut back onto his right foot and crossed into the box - slightly behind Arjen Robben, who produced a fabulous header, directing it into the bottom right-hand corner, in off the post. Stunner. It did rather make you wonder just how good this Dutch team are going to be when they actually start playing! It's a crazy topsy-turvy world, ladies and gentlemen. The Dutch are playing like the Germans and the Germans are playing like the Dutch. Where will it end? At Jo'burg, on Sunday as it happens.
The last few minutes were enlivened by some outrageous van Bommel theatrics (who, eventually, did get booked!) and, deep into injury time, a second Uruguay goal from Maxi Pereira. An easy victory became a nervy, awkward victory. But a victory none-the-less. Dutch delight - the greatest country never to win the World Cup will get another shot at the big prize in five days time.
Goals: 138
Red Cards: 15
The first disappointment of the night was when Kevin Keegan boldly tipped the Dutch to win this one. Oh, no! Lovely bloke, is Wor Kev, but he can't tip sugar. Never could. The BBC, meanwhile, despite not actually having the game to broadcast, reminded us of some previous wonderful Dutch moments. Nice touch. And every time I see that Ari Haan goal against Italy he seems to get further and further away from goal. One day soon, he'll be scoring from outside the ground!
Anyway, here were are in the semi-finals after two days of utterly mind-numbing tedium, at last, we have some football again. The first big surprise was that Tyldesley was doing the commentary all on his own as Jim Beglin was, apparently, sick in bed.
Well, he's spent three weeks locked in a commentary booth with Tyldesley, that's enough to make anybody sick. The opening twenty minutes were terrific, with a real ebb and flow to the game that climaxed in possibly the best goal of the tournament, Giovanni van Bronckhorst crashing one in from thirty five yards. That should have been the start of the party but, for whatever reason, the Dutch took their collective foot off the collective gas; the game got fractured and became niggly and with a slightly spiteful undertone. Then five minutes before half-time, Diego Forlan collected the ball thirty yards from the Netherlands goal, turned into space in a central position and let fly with a left-foot shot that seems to swerve in the air and bamboozle Maarten Stekelenburg, who could only help the ball one-handed high into his own net. That was unexpected.The second half was tense, nervous. Edgy. And, again, a bit nasty in places. Late tackles, sly off the ball incidents. The Dutch looked a shambles at times, yet again on the verge of a major prize and in danger of blowing it, big-style.
Then, slowly, they started to get their shit together after Van der Vaart came on. There were a couple of close calls and finally another decent move led to a shooting chance for Wesley Sneijder and after it took a deflection off Maxi Pereira, Robin van Persie managed not to touch it as the ball flew past Fernando Muslera and into the bottom left-hand corner. Was van Persie offside when the ball was hit? It was very tight - it took half a dozen camera angles to so out that his foot probably was, fractionally off. Even if he was though, was he 'active'? A question worth asking. It seemed that opinion was divided on the matter. The referee and his assistant thought he wasn't, every Uruguayan in the world thought he was. No matter, it was 2-1 and the Dutch scented the blood of the lamb. 
Three minutes later and the Dutch were, effectively, one foot in the World Cup final, and there was no controversy about this one. Dirk Kuyt cut back onto his right foot and crossed into the box - slightly behind Arjen Robben, who produced a fabulous header, directing it into the bottom right-hand corner, in off the post. Stunner. It did rather make you wonder just how good this Dutch team are going to be when they actually start playing! It's a crazy topsy-turvy world, ladies and gentlemen. The Dutch are playing like the Germans and the Germans are playing like the Dutch. Where will it end? At Jo'burg, on Sunday as it happens.The last few minutes were enlivened by some outrageous van Bommel theatrics (who, eventually, did get booked!) and, deep into injury time, a second Uruguay goal from Maxi Pereira. An easy victory became a nervy, awkward victory. But a victory none-the-less. Dutch delight - the greatest country never to win the World Cup will get another shot at the big prize in five days time.
Goals: 138
Red Cards: 15
