World Cup Live: Uruguay vs. Netherlands

All right then, I’m done nattering on about that second Dutch goal. Thanks to all of you for following along and for sending in your comments. Congratulations to the Uruguayans for their brave performance, and congratulations to the Dutch, who will be playing on Sunday for the World Cup. Stay with us here at the Times soccer blog for tomorrow’s Germany-Spain semifinal, for Saturday’s third-place match, and for the Grand Final itself on Sunday. … Cheers!

A reader points out that I have incorrectly applied the offside law on that second Dutch goal — if Van Persie was onside when Sneijder took the initial shot, than he was onside, period. My bad! Second goal was good!

They’re showing the replay of the Sneijder goal that made it 2-1. Van Persie was onside when Sneijder took the initial shot, but was offside when it nicked off an Uruguayan defender’s leg. Van Persie was standing right in front of the goalie Muslera and even lifted his leg as if he was trying to deflect the ball. It’s a judgment call, but I would’ve called it offside. … However, the Uzbek linesman didn’t. All in all, a good match from the Uzbek officiating crew.

As a reader or two has pointed out, this World Cup will mark the first time a European team will win outside of Europe. And how great that the Dutch will be contesting the final on Sunday. They have fascinated and delighted for so long, and the notion of a Netherlands-Spain or especially a Netherlands-Germany final is just fantastic.

But yo, all you readers, Uruguay scrapped and scrapped at this tournament, and no matter what you think of Suarez’s handball vs. Ghana (which is starting to feel like ancient history — and which, I should repeat, was set up by a Ghanaian’s dive to win a free kick), the Celeste’s performance at this tournament was full of guts and garra. It still amazes me to think how much that little country of 3.5 million has accomplished in the world’s most popular sport.

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Arjen Robben scored the third goal for the Netherlands against Uruguay. The Netherlands went on to win, 3-2.

Emotions overflow on the field, some pushing and shoving! But now they separate … Uruguay had the ball in the Dutch area four times in the last minute after Pereira scored following a free kick in stoppage time!

It’ll be the Dutch in the final in Johannesburg on Sunday, unbeaten in 25 straight matches. Uruguay go down with heads held high — they simply did not give up.

Scenes of celebration in Amsterdam, and here in New York, I’ve got to catch my breath. Netherlands 3, Uruguay 2!

A free kick for Uruguay at the halfway line! Muslera a long ball!

IN THE BOX! NO SHOT, CLEARED! CAVANI AGAIN! TRIES TO SHOOT … CANNOT!

THE WHISTLE! THE WHISTLE! THE GAME ENDS!

Off the throw-in from Caceres, he shot on the volley, but it was blocked!

Now Uruguay in again! The Dutch repel!

A whistle and a yellow to Van Bommel! The game is still going on! It is not over!

Throw in deep, into the Dutch area! But they clear!

Muslera a long kick — INTO THE BOX! CLEARED! BUT A THROW IN FOR URUGUAY!

The Uruguayans never give up!

Off the free kick the ball was played to Pereira, who shot through a crowd — and it went in off the far post!!!

Four passes in the box, everyone choosing not to shoot, and so no shot in the end.

Van Bommel goes hard tackling Caceres, and he gets up clutching his chest. That was entirely unnecessary, and he’s only hurt himself.

Three minutes added!

Two chances in close for brave little Uruguay, one cleared by Kuyt, one stopped by offside.

Robben comes out, replaced by the supersub Elia.

The Dutch have never won it, but they’ll be in the final on Sunday vs. either Germany, who are three-time winners, or Spain, who have never won or even been to a semifinal before.

But now is the time for the Dutch to celebrate. They were so noble in defeat in ’74 and ’78, when they lost to the hosts both times in great matches.

Sent in by Van Persie, and Robben raced in, trying to chip over the onrushing Muslera — but he couldn’t pull it off, and the kneeling Muslera catches the ball.

A back pass headed to goalie Stekelnburg is almost picked off by the man who just came on for Forlan.

That feels like a concession. The Charruas’ best player and captain, scorer of their goal tonight and three on the tourney. No Suarez, and now no Forlan — looks like Uruguay will be playing for third place on Saturday vs. either Germany or Spain.

That was sort of comical, as the ball bounced to him and he completely whiffed up close.

Ian Darke and John Harkes on ESPN doing a lot of criticism of the Oranje’s constant falling and rolling around, trying to win yellow cards.

He was romping down the right side, running with such elk-like strides that he kicked the ball too far for him to catch up to.

Here’s El Loco Abreu, whose penalty kick goal vs. Costa Rica got Uruguay into the World Cup, and whose penalty got them past Ghana.

Time so short for little Uruguay! They will feel hard done by on that second Dutch goal, which was probably offside, but what about that beautiful third?

And the Netherlands seem headed, surely, to the World Cup finalissima for the third time in their history!

Muslera mesmerized as the cross is headed in!

It was Kuyt left open on the left side, and he laid in a great cross that Robben got away from his mark, Godin, and headed in off the post. No chance for Muslera! 3-1 for the Dutchmen!

The linesman does not call offside on the goal! Sneijder’s shot deflected off an Uruguayan leg and skipped past … was it van Persie? He did not touch it, but he was in an offside position right in front of Uruguay goalie Muslera and may well have influenced the play. But no offside given! 2-1 for the Dutch!

Bernat Armangue/Associated Press The Netherlands’ Wesley Sneijder, right, scored to give his team a 2-1 lead over Uruguay.

A broken play in front! The shot goes in!

Van Persie’s drive from 10 yards away slapped away by Muslera on the dive! Terrific reaction! And the rebound to Robben he fired over the bar. Robben shot with his right foot, not his better left foot.

… off that perfect free kick from Forlan. It went over the heads of the wall, then dipped down at the near post. Stekelenburg had to go to full stretch to slap it away.

Another free kick for the Charruas captain! 25 yards away! Four in the Dutch wall! … RIGHT ON! BUT PARRIED AWAY BY STEKELENBURG!

Forlan to Pereira in the box, a perfectly weighted pass, but Boulahrouz did well to win the ball away from him.

Now a free kick for the Celeste from just outside the area!

They’ve kept the ball in the Uruguay end for about three straight minutes.

Dylan Martinez/Reuters The Netherlands’ Giovanni van Bronckhorst, left, kicked the ball past Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani.

I just like saying “Van der Vaart.”

Now Van Persie dipsy-doodles and sets up Sneijder with a one-time, but he completely mis-hits it.

More pressure, and the Dutch earn a corner.

True, reader bugzy, Lucy Ferr might not be a gal. Such are the questions that vex us every four years around this time.

He was winding up for a big shot just outside the half-moon when Pereira ran him down from behind and took the ball away. Nice play!

Great maneuvering from the Dutchman, but Arevalo Rios covers up and forces a corner.

Foul on the corner vs. Heitinga of the Dutch.

I neglected to mention that Rafael Van der Vaart was subbed in for the injured de Zeeuw at the start of the second half. de Zeeuw was the guy who got kicked in the face on the chilena by Caceres.

Reader Lucy Ferr, leaving off the swooning over Diego Forlan, offers these tidbits:

Forlan is the first player to score 3 goals outside the box in a single World Cup since Lotthar Matthäus in 1990. (opta)

Van Bronckhorst is just the third Oranje captain to score at the World Cup after Johan Cruyff (1974) and Ruud Gullit (1990). (infostrada)

The Atletico Madrid teammates collide. Forlan has certainly gotten the better of Heitinga in this game, with Heitinga assigned to keep an eye on the Uruguayan.

… from Robben, flies across the face of goal, but too far for his teammates. The Oranje starting to step it up….

Boulahrouz makes a bad back pass — Stekelenburg rushes out of the box to get it — but Cavani ALMOST comes up with it! Finally the Dutch clear, but that was an embarrassing moment for the veteran defender Boulahrouz.

The young World Cup debutante has contained Robben and made some good defensive plays in his own penalty area.

He tried to get it to Kuyt off the left wing, but the linesman rightly saw that the old defender was offside.

But there’s nothing wrong with reader Lucy Ferr offering that opinion here. However, she’s wrong — he’s not all that.

The teams come out of the tunnel for the second half, Uruguay huddling together, shouting encouragement to one another.

1-1 — 45 minutes to go! Dutch to kick off!

Bernat Armangue/Associated Press Uruguay’s Diego Forlan celebrated his goal that tied the game at 1-1.

Both captains scored — for the Dutch, van Bronckhorst, the 35-year-old defender who will retire after this tournament. My fellow Times liveblogger Jesse Pennington writes in to note that this it was a classic example of dutch Total Football, though in this case it was the fullback flowing into space and rocketing a shot typically taken by a forward or midfielder.

And for the Uruguayans, Forlan, who just keeps plugging away, willing to accept 10 misses for the one strike, but the real talent is in his ability to get those 11 chances.

How about that?!!

Several Celestes converge on him to shut him down.

Now here’s a ball in to Kuyt that just misses! They call him offside but he was onside — irrelevant, though, because he couldn’t quite connect on the header.

Little, unfancied, even despised Uruguay — applying the pressure! Looking the better team for at least half the game so far!

Hubris — the sin of overweening pride! Were the Dutch guilty of it? Did they think they could defend their lead against little Uruguay for almost an hour?

Here’s Forlan with a free kick that Stekelenburg catches at the post in the gut. They’re going to shoot at the Dutch goalie now!

Forlan’s left-footed shot swerved and seemed to fool the Dutch goalie! Wrong-footed, he rose up to meet it with only one hand, and that one hand wasn’t strong enough! This game is tied, 1-1!!

Uruguay score on a 20-yard bullet from Forlan! Stekelenburg got a piece of it, but his hand wasn’t strong enough!

He didn’t come close, but once again the Uruguayans successfully crossed a ball into the area.

Uruguay pressurizing, but for every Celeste in the area there are three Dutchmen. Here’s another concern: please don’t tell me the Dutch are parking the bus in front of their goal for the next hour.

A quick counter on a turnover off a poor clearance by Sneijder, Cavani gets down to the by line, but three Dutch defenders cut him off. He couldn’t get the ball to Forlan, who was open in front.

Pereira takes a shot that Stekelenburg easily catches. Some pressure from the Charruas!

Robben broke into the box off a pass from van Persie, and it was only Caceres’s last-second lunge that prevented a clear shot from in close.

Now Cavani goes down easy in the Dutch box when he takes an arm to the face on a high cross. He was fouled, but he went down easy, and the crowd booed.

Uruguay, regarded as “pantomime villains” in Ian Darke’s excellent phrase.

Either for that dangerous kick, or for pretending to be hurt when Sneijder ran up to scold him for the dangerous kick.

They’ve done very little so far, but here’s a chance … Forlan to take, of course … headed away … dangerous Chilena from Caceresa gets a Dutch defender in the face. … Now a kerfuffle on the field … can’t see who the down player is … physios out to fix him. And yes, the replay shows it was de Zeeuw getting kicked hard in the chin by Caceres’s bicycle kick. … Ah, now he’s up.

Reader jabber from Sao Paulo has written in to suggest that Muslera could’ve gotten to the shot by van Bronckhorst. Really? He’d have to be seven feet tall at least to get to that drive. No way he’s to blame.

A true golazo! A long-range shot that went in off the post, right where it meets the crossbar!

And now a Dutch corner — headed out for another corner. … Again Robben takes the corner, but still the Dutch control. They’ll get a free kick now, after Robben gets clattered down by Pereira — a YELLOW to Pereira, well deserved because he slew-footed Robben.

Mohamed Messara/European Pressphoto Agency Uruguay’s Fernando Muslera watched as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s kick entered the goal to give the Netherlands an early 1-0 lead.

A cracker of a shot from von Bronckhorst! 35 yards with the left foot! Muslera did not have a chance as the ball went into the top corner, long side!

… this one is it.

Here’s van Persie trying to break-dance his way into the box, but Arevalo Rios stops him cold.

A rocket drive from Wesley Sneijder at the end of the box clobbers van Persie and falls harmlessly away. Get outta the way, Robin!

And down at the other end Forlan is called offside, even though he was level with the defender, and so loses a chance at the side of the Dutch net.

A break for Uruguay goes to pieces when Forlan passes to the right while Cavani goes left. The less famous man throws his head back in exasperation.

Twice he lofts in balls that vex the Uruguay defense — Caceres has trouble clearing the first, heading it straight up, and then Robben almost gets to the second try with a header.

Suarez shouting encouragement from the Uruguay bench. “Anyone need a hand?” … Sorry, just kidding.

ESPN’s Ian Darke mentions the Uruguayan outrage at everyone calling Luis Suarez a cheat for his handball at the end of the Ghana match. Still no mention, though, of Ghana’s Adiyiah diving to get the foul that led to the free kick, which in turn resulted in the Suarez handball.

Pereira tries from the halfway line, trying to fool the Dutch keeper. But not even close.

Muslera fisted away a ball into the box, it went to Kuyt who was left alone at the side of the area, but he shot high from 10 yards away.

But let’s not exaggerate — it wasn’t much. Forlan got the ball in the corner but had it tackled away well by Mathijsen, back in the Dutch lineup on defense after being out with injury for a couple of games.

The Celeste kick off, and we’re under way!

Here they come out of the tunnel: Uruguay in sky blue shirts, black shorts and black socks; Netherlands all in orange.

They line up for the anthems, and first the Uruguayan anthem, which takes a few bars before the singing starts … everyone kind of waiting around … finally! Forlan singing earnestly, Tabarez too, and so are the fans in the stands with their fright wigs and stripe-painted faces. Moving!

Now the Dutch anthem, which is a terrific song, by the way — “A prince of Orange am I, free and fearless” — everyone singing, including the impossible festive Dutch fans in the stands.

When the Charruas are on the attack, will Heitinga be man-marking Diego Forlan?

And Christopher Clarey sends me a note wondering whether 23-year-old Martin Caceres, who has yet to play a minute in this World Cup, will be handling Arjen Robben down the right wing when the Dutch are on the attack. Caceres is a highly regarded youngster who is on loan from FC Barcelona to Juventus, but a World Cup semifinal is quite an assignment for a debut.

Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters A fan waited for the start of Tuesday’s match between the Netherlands and Uruguay.

From Christopher Clarey inside the stadium on a cool night when an orange sweater is a good idea as well as an orange wig:

I think I’ll miss the walks to the stadium more than the games themselves. It’s a trek here in Cape Town: close to three miles the way I’ve been doing it from the foot of Table Mountain. It is more a fan crawl than a fan walk with all the bodies thrown together. But it’s been a gradual awakening and evolution: from looking over my shoulder a little edgily in the early days here in South Africa to thoroughly enjoying the flow and the fete in the final days. The Capetonians, even those without tickets, were out watching from their balconies and their doorsteps tonight – cameras at the ready – as they chronicled the orange river going past (I didn’t see a Uruguay fan until I arrived at the stadium but then with only three and a half million people, there aren’t that many Uruguay fans to be had).

This is my first night game with the Dutch after a couple of day games so their signature color helps light the way to the stadium instead of making you shy away because of the glare of the bright Durban sunshine. A lot of broken dreams for Dutch soccer fans over the years but tonight’s bunch seems upbeat, as well they should be. The Uruguayans are missing three key players. The Dutch are missing, in my opinion, just one: holding midfielder Nigel De Jong (who does a lot of holding….and bruising). Outside defender Gregory van der Wiel, who is also suspended for this match, has been a weak link in the games I’ve seen.

But the Uruguayans are getting used to defying logic, as anyone who watched the end of their quarterfinal with Ghana can understand. “In 1986, it was the hand of Maradona, and now it’s the hand of Suarez,” said Damian D’Alessandro, a 39-year-old from Montevideo who was inside the stadium with a Uruguayan flag over his backpack.

D’Alessandro has been here following the Uruguayan team with his 10-year-old son. “My son is in the clouds, but he only had to wait 10 years for this,” he said. “I had to wait 40.”

The lineups have been announced for the match in Cape Town, where it’s about 10 Celsius and 50 Fahrenheit, no rain, fingers crossed.

For Oscar Washington Tabarez’s Uruguay, who are without the suspended Suarez and Fucile and the injured Lugano and Fernzndez:

1-Muslera
3-Godin, 6-Victorino, 5-Gargano, 16-Pereira,
22-Caceres, 15-Perez, 11-Pereira, 17-Arevalo,
7-Cavani, 10-Forlan

For Bert Van Marwijk’s Netherlands, who have not lost in 24 straight matches and are missing the suspended De Jong and Van der Wiel while giving old man Ooijer a spell on the bench:

1-Stekelenburg
12-Boulahrouz, 3-Heitinga, 4-Mathijsen, 5-van Bronckhorst
6-van Bommel, 10-Sneijder, 14-de Zeeuw
11-Robben, 9-van Persie. 7-Kuyt

The ref is Ravshan Irmatov of Uzbekistan, who had the honor of running the opener between South Africa and Mexico.

Plenty of breaking news to relay as we prepare for the unutterable tension of this match — starting with the message Netherlands keeper Maarten Stekelenburg sent to his Ajax teammate, suspended Uruguay striker Luis (Real Hand of God) Suarez. “I sent him a text message that he has been the best goalkeeper of the tournament,” Stekelenburg told De Telegraaf. “The Lev Yashin Award is for him.” Ha — good one, Maarty! That’s all about Suarez’s infamous handball, of course — but here’s a reminder, via YouTube, that Ghana’s Dominic Adiyiah took a blatant dive to set up the free kick that preceded Suarez’s handball.

How unassuming are the Dutch? They booked their South Africa hotel only through July 5 and now must find a new place to stay for the rest of the week. “It is not the case that we will be homeless after the semifinal,” a Dutch federation official said. “FIFA is searching for another accommodation.” Whilst pondering that, consider further Dutch dislocation through this story in Vanity Fair’s Fair Play blog by David Winner, author of the definitive “Brilliant Orange: the Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football,” on how befuddled Dutch fans are dealing with the elegant play of their German arch rivals.

Meanwhile in Uruguay, pretty much the entire country of three and a half million will come to a halt for the match, with public transit shut down and almost all businesses closing a half hour before kickoff. President José
Mujica called the Celeste’s World Cup adventure “a poem, no matter what happens” today, “because as a society they gave us dignity and joy and showed us that with patience and humility and without false hope, you can do important things.” Wait, I’m getting a little verklempt … please, a moment. …

O.K., better now. This is what Mujica was talking about, the scene in Montevideo as more than 100,000 people gathered to watch the Uruguay-Ghana quarterfinal:

There was a crowd of similar size at Amsterdam’s Museum Square when the Oranje pulled off their impressive quarterfinal victory over Brazil:

Either the Dutch or the Uruguayans will be celebrating like that tonight.

The oddsmakers put the Oranje at 4-to-6 favorites and the Celeste at 5-to-1 underdogs. And we’ll be back when today’s lineups are announced.