Robben and co. out of the World Cup…
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Argentina beat Holland 4-2 on penalties after a tense 0-0 draw in the World Cup semi-final, and will now meet Germany in Sunday’s final.
Here’s how we rated the sides tonight…
Netherlands
- 01 Cillessen – 5/10
Didn’t do anything wrong during the match, but perhaps inevitably, didn’t save a single penalty in the shoot-out. Louis van Gaal will have wished he brought Tim Krul on again, like he did for the quarter-final penalties win against Costa Rica. Cillessen has never stopped a pen in his career.
- 15 Kuyt – 7/10
Kuyt had more touches than any player on the field (99), and worked tirelessly as usual. Bagged his spot-kick, too.
- 05 Blind – 5/10
Regularly struggled to track the runs of Ezequiel Lavezzi in the first-half especially.
- 04 Martins Indi (Janmaat – 45′ ) 5/10
Strong aerially, but was taken off after he was booked for tackling Messi – to save him getting sent off.
- 02 Vlaar – 6/10
Rated as one of the weaker players on the pitch pre kick-off, the Aston Villa man helped keep Lionel Messi quiet for most of the evening. Took the first penalty of the shoot-out though, and it was an awful one, which set the tone for what was to come.
- 03 de Vrij – 6/10
As solid as he has been all tournament. Positionally superb, and dealt with Higuain well.
- 20 Wijnaldum – 5/10
Every Dutch move slowed down when it went through Wijnaldum. Tonight, the Dutch badly missed the injured Strootman – who’s technically more efficient than Wijnaldum, and has better vision.
- 06 de Jong (Clasie – 62′ ) – 7/10
A real industrious performance from de Jong in the first-half – totally man-marking Messi out of the game.
- 10 Sneijder – 5/10
Promising touches early on, but he failed to implement his talent on tonight’s semi, unlike four years ago, when he managed to score.
- 09 van Persie (Huntelaar – 96′ ) – 6/10
Ran hard all night, but wasn’t given the service he would have likely thrived upon.
- 11 Robben – 7/10
Denied a last minute winner with a superb Mascherano tackle, Robben was the one Dutch player who looked like he could always make something happen. Scored his penalty too, and probably outshone Messi in the individual battle between the pair.
Subs:
Janmaat – 6/10 – Played his part in a tight, cagey second-half.
Clasie – 7/10 – Passed the ball well, and actually controlled the tempo of the game once he came on.
Huntelaar – n/a – No time to make an impact.
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