Final, 0-0 (Netherlands wins penalty-kick shootout 4-3): It’s over. The Netherlands prevails in the shootout and advances to the 2014 World Cup semifinal.
The Netherlands’ 2014 World Cup hopes remain intact after a hard-fought draw over 120 minutes and a rousing victory in the penalty-kick shootout.
The Netherlands will be happy with its performance and feel like justice was served in the shootout. The Dutch capably balanced attack and defense, creating scoring chances throughout the game and preventing Costa Rica from doing so for over 115 minutes.
Van Gaal is likely to be named the top coach at the 2014 World Cup, and his decision to use Krul in the shootout was his latest masterstroke.
Costa Rica’s 2014 World Cup fairytale ends painfully, but the Ticos must be proud of what they accomplished in Brazil. Costa Rica achieved its best-ever finish at a World Cup and gave birth to a new global star: Keylor Navas.
More importantly, Costa Rica cemented its status as the third pillar in the CONCACAF region, and head coach Jorge Luis Pinto instilled a playing style, which helped Costa Rica stand eye-to-eye with some of the giants of the soccer world and either defeated or played them to a stalemate. It would be wise for Costa Rica to turn that style into a philosophy, which should filter throughout its soccer community.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands is heading back to the World Cup semifinal. The Dutch weren’t expected to make it this far, but their quality and togetherness merit a place in the rarefied air of the soccer world. The Netherlands will play Argentina on Wednesday.
That’s all for now, and thanks for joining us. Let’s discuss this one on Twitter @NESNsoccer and Facebook. Be sure to keep an eye out for some news, fan reactions, analysis and opinion that is on the way on NESN.com.
Penalty-kick shootout: Borges is shooting first for Costa Rica.
Borges slides his shot underneath the diving Krul.
Van Persie scores with a perfectly placed spot-kick. It’s 1-1.
Krul saves Ruiz’s penalty kick.
Robben fires his penalty kick past Navas, who dove the wrong way. It’s 2-1 Netherlands.
Gonzalez beats Krul with his penalty kick. There might have been some mutual taunting going on.
Sneijder converts his penalty kick, and the Netherlands leads 3-2.
Bolanos fires past Krul.
Kuyt scores. It’s 4-3 Netherlands.
Krul saves Umana’s penalty kick to win the shootout for the Netherlands.
End of extra time, 0-0: The second half of extra time is over.
The winner will be determined by a penalty-kick shootout.
120th minute, 0-0: The Netherlands makes its third, and final substitution of the game, and it’s a huge one.
Backup goalkeeper Tim Krul enters ahead of the penalty-kick shootout. Cillessen heads for the bench.
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119th minute, 0-0: Sneijder hits the crossbar once again.
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117th minute, 0-0: Urena forces Cillessen to make a save, as Costa Rica registers its first shot on goal.
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115th minute, 0-0: Costa Rica is going forward, and now the Dutch are under pressure.
111th minute, 0-0: Huntelaar is cautioned for an elbow on Navas, who is down once again receiving treatment.
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107th minute, 0-0: Robben and Acosta collide, and both players are down.
The referee cautions Acosta for the foul on Robben.
106th minute, 0-0: The Netherlands makes its second substitution, removing center back Martins Indi and replacing him with striker Klass-Jan Huntelaar.
105th minute, 0-0: The first period of extra time is over. It’s still goalless.
The story remains the same. It’s all Netherlands, while Costa Rica defends for its life.
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102nd minute, 0-0: Robben is looking to do it all himself, and the Dutch winger wins a free kick 30 yards away from the Costa Rica goal.
97th minute, 0-0: Tejada exits, as Costa Rica makes its third and final substitution.
Jose Cubero replaces Tejada.
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95th minute, 0-0: Navas is down with an apparent injury after he collided with Kuyt during a corner kick.
Navas is back on his feet and returns to the game following treatment.
94th minute, 0-0: Vlaar heads a corner kick on goal, but Navas pushes it away.
91st minute, 0-0: The second half is underway. History doesn’t favor the Netherlands in these situations.
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Meanwhile, Navas’ performances at the 2014 World Cup have turned him into a national treasure back home in Costa Rica.
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End of 90 minutes, 0-0: We’re still goalless, and the game is going to extra time.
There will be two, 15-minute periods. If neither team is ahead after 30 minutes, a penalty kick shootout will determine the winner.
90th minute +2, 0-0: Somehow Costa Rica escapes without conceding.
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Navas punched van Persie’s shot clear. Blind collected the rebound and crossed into the goalmouth.
The ball eluded a glut of players and continued to the far post where van Persie shot on goal once again — but it hit Tejada who was standing on the goal line.
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90th minute, 0-0: There will be a minimum of four minutes of added time in the second half.
88th minute, 0-0: Sneijder set up van Persie inside the area, but the Dutch captain whiffs on his shot.
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84th minute, 0-0: Now Navas denies van Perise, who shot from close range.
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82nd minute, 0-0: Sneijder hits the post with the free kick. Navas had no chance to save it.
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81st minute, 0-0: Gonzalez is cautioned for a foul on Robben on the edge of the Costa Rica penalty area.
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Gonzalez will be suspended for the semifinal if Costa Rica advances.
78th minute, 0-0: Costa Rica makes another change, as Gamboa departs — on a stretcher once again. Dave Myri replaces the injured defender.
76th minute, 0-0: The Dutch are making a substitution, bringing on Jermain Lens for Memphis Depay.
74th minute, 0-0: It’s all Netherlands right now, but Costa Rica’s defense is holding firm.
Eventually, however, the Ticos will have to go forward and test Netherlands goalkeeper Cillessen.
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70th minute, 0-0: Gamboa is down after landing awkwardly from an aerial challenge with Blind.
The Costa Rica defender is being stretchered off the field and may not be able to continue.
66th minute, 0-0: Costa Rica makes a substitution, bringing on forward Marcos Urena for Campbell.
65th minute, 0-0: Gonzalez misses with a header on the ensuing free kick, but Costa Rica comes close on that one.
64th minute, 0-0: Martins Indi is cautioned for a foul on Ruiz.
62nd minute, 0-0: Bolanos misses with a free kick from distance, and his teammates aren’t happy with the decision to shoot.
59th minute, 0-0: The second half has opened with few major incidents.
The Netherlands continues to control possession, but it now looks to create chances from the wide areas.
Costa Rica is defending comfortably and looking to counter-attack with speed.
52nd minute, 0-0: Umana is cautioned for a high tackle on Robben, who was running at full speed when the Costa Rica defender took him down.
46th minute, 0-0: The second half is underway.
Something tells us that we’ll see some goals in the second period.
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Halftime, 0-0: That’s the end of the first half. It’s goalless in Salvador.
The first half was a new frontier for the Netherlands and more of the same for Costa Rica. The Dutch enjoyed more possession than they have in recent games but failed to unlock Costa Rica’s defense without the benefit of an error.
When the Netherlands caught Costa Rica flat-footed, Navas was there to do what he has done throughout the tournament.
The Netherlands must remain patient and be more clinical — if that’s even possible — in front of goal in order to win.
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Costa Rica must maintain its defensive focus and tenacity because the Dutch will keep coming. At some point, the Ticos must sustain possession in order to test the Dutch defense more than once or twice in the next 45 minutes.
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42nd minute, 0-0: The Netherlands is controlling possession and territory.
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The downside is that Costa Rica sets up its defense when the Dutch pass short, and the sustained possession doesn’t lead to scoring chances. The Netherlands’ best chances have come on the counter-attack, but Navas has turned them all away so far.
39th minute, 0-0: Navas makes another leaping save.
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Sneijder powerfully curled a free kick toward the top corner, but the Costa Rica goalkeeper sprung to his right and palmed it away.
37th minute, 0-0: Diaz is cautioned for a foul on Robben.
34th minute, 0-0: Costa Rica nearly scores the opening goal in spectacular fashion.
Bolanos sent a free kick into the Netherlands’ penalty area, and Borges headed it to the far post where Acosta tried to score with a bicycle kick, only for van Persie to clear it away from the goal.
29th minute, 0-0: Costa Rica loses the ball in midfield again, the Netherlands breaks forward and shoots again, and Navas makes a routinely stunning kick save … again.
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This time, the Costa Rica goalkeeper denies Depay.
24th minute, 0-0: The Dutch break into the Costa Rica third of the field after Diaz’s careless giveaway on the left side.
It ends when van Persie is adjudged to be offside.
The Netherlands is starting to dominate possession, while Costa Rica lives dangerously.
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21st minute, 0-0: The Netherlands create the first scoring chance through a well-worked counter-attack, but it ends with Navas making a double save.
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First, the Costa Rica goalkeeper stopped van Persie’s powerful shot. Navas then saved Sneijder’s follow-up effort.
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18th minute, 0-0: The game has hit a dry patch, but the fans are making plenty of noise … for Neymar.
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The Brazil superstar suffered a back injury on Friday that brought his 2014 World Cup to a tragic end.
12th minute, 0-0: The teams are sticking with their respective approaches but aren’t executing very well.
Misplaced passes in the midfield and final thirds have characterized the game so far, and neither team has created any scoring chances.
Sixth minute, 0-0: After a slow start in which the Netherlands had most of the possession, the game briefly turns into an end-to-end affair.
Both teams like to win the ball and break forward quickly and they seem committed to their respective styles.
First minute, 0-0: The 2014 World Cup quarterfinal game between the Netherlands and Costa Rica is underway.
Pregame: Â The anthems are done, and the game is set to begin.
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The Netherlands likely will have the advantage when it comes to freshness. Both teams last played Sunday, but Costa Rica fought for 120 minutes, while the Netherlands defeated Mexico in 90.
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3:45 p.m.: Here are the lineups:
Netherlands
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Costa Rica
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3:30 p.m. ET: Three teams have booked places in the 2014 World Cup semifinals. The Netherlands and Costa Rica will attempt to become the fourth, and final, entrant when they meet on Saturday at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil.
Both teams are among the biggest surprises at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in that few expected them to reach this point, let alone the last four of the tournament. The winner will face Argentina on Wednesday.
The Netherlands blitzed Spain in its opener en route to a first-place finish in Group B. The Dutch then topped Mexico in a controversial, comeback victory in the Round of 16.
Nobody predicted that Costa Rica would be playing for a place in the 2014 World Cup semifinals, but the “Ticos” are here, and it’s not by accident. Costa Rica topped Group D, which set up a Round of 16 game against Greece. Costa Rica played the last 60 minutes with 10 men but prevailed on penalty kicks — thanks to the endless heroics of goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
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The Netherlands has the pedigree and superstar forwards — Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie. But this Dutch team also is young and inexperienced, which makes a dip in form or lapse in concentration a possibility in a game of this magnitude. Head coach Louis van Gaal likely will set his team up to be aggressive but also play with intelligence in a high-wire balancing act.
Costa Rica’s veterans have led the team to the quarterfinals for the first time in history. If Costa Rica can recover from the length and intensity of the game against Greece, we should see it play the relentless pressing and opportunistic counter-attacking style, which has brought it this far.
The game kicks off at 4 p.m. Stay here for all the action from the Arena Fonte Nova.
