Netherlands and Mexico faced off in a game of elimination that would confirm who would be going to the next stage of the World Cup. Mexico dominated the whole match and played a great game with a lot of chances to destroy the Netherlands team but it wasn’t enough to get them to the next round. They had great passing, many shots, opportunities to score on Netherlands, great defense, Ochoa was looking at his best again and Gio was the star of the game as well. Netherlands, on the other hand, looked horrible. Their defense was lagging it, the substitution of Nigel De Jong was the loss of their midfield play, and along with them not having Strootman and Van Der Vaart already. Goalkeeper Cilissen wasn’t playing at his best and you didn’t hear much from Arjen Robben or Robin Van Persie.
The last time these two teams met up was back in May of 2010 before the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and it was Netherlands who took the 2-1 win in the friendly match with goals from Robin Van Persie and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. It seemed like Mexico had this game and would be advancing into the next round and face either Costa Rica or Greece but they didn’t give it their all in the last 20 minutes of the game and gave the Netherlands the opportunity to makes chances and actually score.
The first half of the game was filled with many opportunities for Mexico. Thanks to an early substitution with Nigel De Jong coming off the field, it gave Mexico the chance to create plays in the midfield and also not worry about De Jong creating some great plays for Netherlands. With this said, we saw Hector Herrera almost creating a goal in the 16th minute. Gio was able to get control of the ball, pass it to Peralta who had an open shot but then the defenders got in his way. This helped him to find Herrera open and shot for goal, but the ball went to far left and Netherlands saved themselves from an early 1-0 lead. Later in the first half, Salcido also had a chance to score from far away but Cilissen was there to stop the ball. The only time Netherlands had a chance at the net was a play by Van Persie who clearly had a good shot but deflected the ball to high.
Two calls though are what saved Mexico from also having a first half loss. Robben was robbed from not only a free kick but also a penalty call. He was fouled both times and the ref didn’t call it even though he was ready to blow the whistle for the free kick call.
The first half was all Mexico. They have 6 shots with 3 being on goal and Netherlands only had 2 with one being at goal. The second half took place and it seemed like Mexico could take this game. In the 48th minute we saw Giovanni Dos Santos stop the ball with his chest and get control of the ball and then shoot it to get it past 3 defenders and pass goalkeeper Cilissen to take the 1-0 lead for Mexico.
After this goal we saw Giovanni Dos Santos come off the field a couple minutes after and it as a bad call from Coach Miguel Herrera. If Mexico wanted to win this game, they had to continue attacking on Netherlands but with Javier Aquino coming in, you can see that Herrera wanted to defend for the rest of the game.
With that being said, we saw Netherlands attacking more. In the 56th minute, Memo Ochoa saved a ball from going in with his own face that then deflected the ball to the post in a corner kick created by Arjen Robben. 4 minutes later, Sneijder had an opportunity but Memo Ochoa was there again to save Mexico from losing the lead.
Then again we saw Memo Ochoa become the hero in the 73rd minute, when Arjen Robben was able to get past some Mexican defenders and go for goal but Ochoa was there to block the ball. In the 84th minute, again Ochoa was the savior for Mexico. Huntelaar had a clear shot at the goal but Ochoa was there to stop the ball and Huntelaar was then called offsides. With 5 minutes left in the game, Mexico and their fans started believing that we had this game, we were advancing but then Sneijder broke every Mexican’s heart. In a corner kick, the ball was deflected of the Mexican defenders and landed right in front of Wesley Sneijder to bomb the ball straight into the net with Ochoa and his defenders not being able to do anything about it.
This gave the Netherlands the tie and a game that could of headed into overtime, but the game came to a penalty call.
We saw Robben take about 2 defenders and as he was by the out line, you can clearly see that Robben sold the flop to the refs and a bad tackle from Rafa Marquez. The captain was nowhere near the ball and tripped Robben but again he sold the flop and gave the Netherlands the opportunity to take a penalty with 4 minutes left in the game.
Mexican players were praying, hopping it wouldn’t go in, you can see eyes ready to tear up as Netherlands was about to take the penalty, and as we saw the ball cross the goal line from the penalty shot taken by Klaas Jan Huntelaar, every Mexican’s heart was broken.
The game ended two minutes later after the penalty shot and it was over for Mexico. Hearts were broken, tears were shed in the Mexican side and we all had to see Netherlands celebrate, as they were the ones advancing into the Quarterfinals of the World Cup.
Mexico played very well today vs. Netherlands and were the better team but it all came down to the ref and the penalty shot that gave Netherlands the win over Mexico. If it wasn’t for that call, this game could have been in overtime and probably a shot for Mexico to create something else, but the gods of soccer had something else in mind. Mexico looked great and this is the beginning of a new era since they fought well against Cameroon, Brazil, Croatia and gave hell to Netherlands.
Netherlands advance to the next round as clearly stated above and will face the winner of Costa Rica or Greece.
Photo Credit: Javier Soriano/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images