Après Match | Fixtures & Results | In Pictures
Full time The Netherlands are into the World Cup final after overcoming a stubborn if uninspiring Uruguay. Two quick goals - one lucky, one excellent - settled the contest midway through the second half and Uruguay had no answer, despite a frantic finish.
Trouble is, the Dutch defence looks leaky, their goalkeeper unsure and they looked short of ideas going forward for much of the game. Spain would provide a sterner test in the final, whereas Germany - on current form - would tear them to shreds. We shall see. Tune in tomorrow for the good semi-final.
90+5 mins Uruguay launch it in the mixer and it drops to Cavani, whose strike is blocked down by Kuyt - panicky stuff at the death!
90+3 mins Now all of a sudden Uruguay are showing that urgency they needed 15 minutes ago. The Dutch are nervy and Uruguay are bombing it forward.
90+1 mins Gargano plays a clever pass out to Pereira on the edge of the box from a free and a switched off Dutch defence are caught napping as the midfielder curls it home to the far post past Stekelenburg. Tense finish awaits.
GOAL FOR URUGUAY
87 mins Electric break from the Dutch - van der Vaart straight into Van Persie, who flicks it into the path of Robben. The winger blazes through on goal and tries to clip it around the keeper, but Muslera saves. Van Persie was free in the middle, should've squared it.
85 mins A disappointed Diego Forlan is subbed off. He's had a great World Cup.
83 mins Seven minutes to go and Uruguay appear to have given up the ghost. They don't believe that they can claw it back - they're jogging around. Boo-urns.
80 mins Uruguay continue to play simple lateral passes - what the hey? It's a World Cup semi-final, 10 minutes left and you're two goals down - get it up to Quinny! Sebastian Abreu - Uruguay's Quinny - is on to receive such balls.
76 mins After that flurry of activity, the game has calmed right down. Holland in control now, Uruguay not yet displaying the necessary urgency. They appear shell-shocked after those two goals that came from nowhere really.
73 mins Kuyt receives wide left, loads of space and floats in a delicious ball onto Robben's head. The winger - moving backwards - pulls off a sensational header, redirecting the ball off the bottom of the near post, giving Muslera no chance.
GOAL FOR NETHERLANDS
70 mins Wesley Sneijder comes into possession at the left edge of the box and he tries to curl a shot far post. It comes off the legs of Carceres, goes through the legs of Van Persie and past the outstretched arm of Muslera. Van Persie appeared offside, but replays show that he was level, plus he didn't touch it.
GOAL FOR NETHERLANDS
68 mins Van Bronckhorst floats in a long ball which Van Persie kills stone dead on his toe. He plays a sweet reverse pass inside to the unmarked van der Vaart who strikes it well across goal, but Muslera stretches to save. It breaks to Robben, who has an even better chance, but his first time shot is high over the bar.
66 mins Forlan goes near post again, but Stekelenburg is equal to that one.
65 mins Van Bommel kicks out at Gargano and it's a tasty dead ball opportunity for Forlan - left side, 25 yards out.
63 mins Van Persie twists and turns on the right edge of the area before floating it over to Sneijder on the far side. The Inter Milan midfielder tries his luck first time, but it's a nasty one - sideswiper, practically out for a throw. Van der Vaart has taken Sneijder's advanced midfield role down the middle and his rubbish play is stopping most Dutch attacks before they start. Sneijder seems to have dropped deep and is being wasted.
59 mins Holland finally get it out to Robben on the right and he leaves Caceres on his arse, but Arevalo comes across to intercede and it's a corner to the Dutch. But there's some messing around in the box and it's a free out. Robben has Caceres beaten all ends up - he needs ball out there.
56 mins The Dutch are all over the place. Uruguay applying pressure all over the pitch and the Dutch seem unable to make the right choice at the minute. Passes going astray, turning into trouble, running into blind alleys - unfortunately for Uruguay, they don't really look too threatening either.
53 mins Halftime sub Van der Vaart has touched the ball four times - one corner straight out and three times to a Uruguayan in his own half. Not a good start.
50 mins Boulahrouz howler. Dreadfully short back pass allows Cavani in, but Stekelenburg slides out to challenge successfully. It breaks out wide for Perez, who clips it goalwards to the unguarded net and it's heading in, but van Bronckhorst gets back on the line to head clear.
47 mins Van der Vaart's first touch is a shocker - straight to Perez, but the danger is snuffed out by Van Bommel. Kuyt showed nice feet there as he held off his marker and slid the ball through to Van Bronckhorst, but he's offside. And he actually is this time.
2035 Rafael van der Vaart is on for Demy de Zeeuw, who did appear a touch groggy after he was kung-fu'd in the schnoz in the first half. Holding midfielder off, attacking midfielder on - nice.
2030 One interesting note from the panel - all are shocked that Marc Van Bommel continues to get away with persistent fouling. He must have gotten away with about five bookable offences towards the end of the Brazil game and he's escaped with a couple here again. More importantly, there have been three bad offside calls, where the flag has gone up with the players quite obviously offside. What happened to benefit of the doubt to the attacking side?
Half time Well, well. We have a game on our hands. The Dutch scored a blinder and looks set to boss Uruguay off the park, but then the South Americans kept on coming and without ever really causing a fuss in the Dutch defence, they assumed control of the game. Then Forlan has a crack and Stekelenburg is fooled by the dreaded Jabulani. To be honest, it was just poor keeping. From that distance, straight at him (high, granted) - he should always save that. Both sides capable, it's on.
45+1 mins More like it from the Dutch, controlled passing outside by the box and Sneijder clips it over to the far post where Kuyt has got behind his man, but he messes up his diving header.
43 mins Free kick effort from Forlan, 30 yards out on the right side. He curls it at the near post, but this time it's straight into the bread basket of Stekelenburg, who gathers comfortably. The Dutch are, as they say, rattled and Uruguay definitely on top.
40 mins Forlan turns Mathijsen and has a crack with his left, but he's 35 yards out. No matter, even though it's straight at Stekelenburg, it swirls through the Dutch keeper's hand and into the net. Solid strike, good power, but the goalie should've stopped that - it ghosted through his hand.
GOAL FOR URUGUAY
37 mins Uruguay knocking at the door somewhat - Perez tries his luck from the edge of the box, but it's a daisycutter. Caceres bungs in a long throw that breaks in the box, but Heitinga is closest and clears. Then Pereira swings in a decent ball that Forlan gets to, but he's behind the ball and his header is always going over.
34 mins Uruguay coming right back into this - break down the right and the centre, on its way to Forlan, is only just intercepted by Boulahrouz. Then moments later, Sneijder tries a flick in his own half that's deflected into the path of Arevalo, who turns and shimmies at the edge of the Dutch box, but can't get the ball in. Still, Uruguay are up in it and the Dutch have lost their grip on the game.
31 mins Sweet turn from Van Persie and then he plays in Robben, whose first touch is ace, taking him past Caceres into the box, but the Uruguayan defender muscles the winger off the ball to save his side. De Zeeuw has recovered and is back on.
28 mins Too casual a header from Heitinga and Uruguay have their first corner. Caceres tries a bicycle effort from the edge of the box and instead almost takes de Zeeuw's head off. Bit of minor argy subsequently as the Dutch disapprove. Replays show that de Zeeuw took it full in the teeth - ouch.
24 mins Uruguay look a little bit lost out there. Their 4-4-2 is heavy with defensive-minded players and now that they're behind, they're looking short of attacking options. The Dutch players, however, are buzzing. Still, one goal leads ain't nothing.
21 mins All Holland at the minute. Two successive corners headed clear from the six yard box. Robben is hauled down by Pereira, who gets the first yellow of the game.
18 mins Giovanni van Bronckhorst has just scored the goal of the World Cup. He receives a pass more than 40 yards out on the left side, the kind of area where you would almost think yourself too far out to cross the ball. The captain advances and lashes an incredible shot into the top right corner beyond the despairing Muslera. Amazing strike.
GOAL FOR NETHERLANDS
17 mins Van Persie cheekily robs Victorino on the wing and runs at Gargano in the Uruguayan box, but the Gunner is dispossessed rather easily and the danger is snuffed out.
15 mins Neat play by Uruguay on the edge of the box - Perez's cross finds Forlan free at the back post, but he's drifted offside. Replays show it's by a fraction. That's three successive close calls for the Dutch defence, each time saved by the flag.
13 mins Holland playing an extremely high line and Cavani narrowly caught offside chasing Forlan through balls. Accident waiting to happen there.
11 mins Dodgy times in the Uruguayan box - two crosses in from Kuty on the left - Robben almost gets his head to the second. But both clearances are sliced straight up in the air. Muslera finally gathers - not a passage of play to inspire confidence.
9 mins Holland passing it around, keeping it on the deck. Uruguay working hard to deny them space, but unable to hold onto possession when they disrupt. So far, so Spain v Paraguay.
7 mins Boulahrouz tries to chest it down, but messes up. It falls to Pereira, who attampts an audacious chip over Stekelenburg from just inside the Dutch half. It hasn't the pace to trouble the keeper and in any case it's over the bar. Cheeky.
5 mins First chance for the Dutch. Robben skins Caceres, lays it off to Sneijder, whose first time cross is only palmed away by Muslera. It falls to an unmarked Kuyt, but his half-volley is just over the bar. The Liverpool player had more time than he realised there to give the European side the lead.
3 mins Uruguay snapping away in the middle - Van Bommel is robbed and Forlan receives down the left channel, but Mathijsen slides in smoothly to relieve him of the ball.
1 min Some head tennis yields possession to Periera for Uruguay, but he is cleaned out by Van Bommel. Message-sending tackle from the Bayern Munich midfielder.
1925 Here we go - will it be the Netherlands going one step closer to their first ever World Cup or will Uruguay return to the winners' table for the first time in 60 years? Let's get it on!
1920 The teams emerge onto the pitch in Cape Town. John Giles reckons Holland will come through a touch encounter, Eamon agress. Didi throws his hat on Uruguay in extra time.
1915 Didi Hamann towers above Dunphy & Giles in the panel, but Dunphy's first in with the predictions: he reckons Uruguay will be tough, well organised opponents, but he fears that they will be knackered after their two hour exertions against Ghana. Everyone thought the same about Paraguay after their Japanese stalemate and they turned around and scared the bejeesus out of Spain. And Uruguay have four fresh pairs of legs on the pitch.
1900 The exchanges agree - the Netherlands are 4/5 to win tonight, with Uruguay a vertiginous 5/1. There's been €14million matched already on the game. Crikey.
1845 Anyway back to tonight's semi-final. The Dutch have brought in Khalid Boulahrouz for the impressive van der Wiel. Boulahrouz - in my memory, he's a red card in waiting. But Uruguay have been forced into four changes - captain Diego Lugano and Alvaro Fernandez are injured as well as their two suspensions. It's advantage to the Netherlands all over the place as far as I can see. But it's a World Cup semi-final - anything can happen. And hopefully will.
1830 Does everyone remember perma-permed Liverpool striker Craig Johnston? He of Predator boot fame. He has penned a 12-page letter of complaint to FIFA regarding the much maligned Jabulani ball. Johnston says in his letter to Blatter: 'If a sponsor came into your office before the World Cup and said: 'We are going to give you a new, perfectly round match ball, the players won't like it at all, there will be more mistakes made than in any other World Cup, there will be less goals scored, less free-kicks scored, less passes complete, less control by players and roughly 70% of crosses and shots on goal will miss wide and go way over the crossbar. What would you say to them?' Hard to argue with the perm.
1815 Missing out this evening for the Netherlands are Nigel de Jong and Gregory van der Wiel, while Uruguay must do without Jorge Fucile and Luis Suarez.
1800 The teams are in:
Uruguay: 1-Fernando Muslera; 3-Diego Godin, 6-Mauricio Victorino, 5-Walter Gargano, 16-Maximiliano Pereira, 22-Martin Caceres, 15-Diego Perez, 11-Alvaro Pereira, 17-Egidio Arevalo, 7-Edinson Cavani, 10-Diego Forlan.
Netherlands: 1-Maarten Stekelenburg; 12-Khalid Boulahrouz, 3-John Heitinga, 4-Joris Mathijsen, 5-Giovanni van Bronckhorst; 7-Dirk Kuyt, 6-Mark van Bommel, 10-Wesley Sneijder, 14-Demy de Zeeuw, 11-Arjen Robben; 9-Robin van Persie.
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
1715 - Frank McNamara, he of the e-mail below, has contacted us to say that he is not the Frank McNamara from The Late Late Show (1980s & 90s) and the candidate who ran for the PDs in the 2007 General Election.
1715 Frank McNamara has been in touch. I wonder is he the same Frank who was the pianist for so many years on The Late Late Show? 'I've enjoyed all the updates during the tournament lads. Thanks. I've been stuck at a computer writing a thesis for the whole competition so it's been great for the matches i don't catch.
'I was a black stars (ghana) supporter but don't begrudge uruguay their place and hope they make the final now. I'd like an all Spanish speaking final although the biggest Dutch-German showdown since 1939 is not without its attractions. Either of those will do me. Thanks again lads. Vive Uruguay!'
1700 Martin King has been in contact with his World Cup predictor. You may be familar with it: '1 Brazil won the World Cup in 1994; before that they also won in 1970. Adding 1970 + 1994 = 3964
2 Argentina won its last World Cup in 1986; before that they also won in 1978. Adding 1978 + 1986 = 3964
3 Germany won its last World Cup in 1990; before that they also won in 1974. Adding 1974 + 1990 = 3964
4 Brazil also won the World Cup in 2002; before that they also won in 1962. Adding 1962 + 2002 = 3964
5 Therefore if you want to know what nation is going to win the World Cup in 2010, you only have to subtract 2010 from the magic number that we have determined: 3964.3964 minus 2010 = 1954... In 1954 the World Cup was won by Germany!!
1541 Irish MEP Gay Mitchell has called on the EU to intervene in the goal-line technology debate: He has written a letter to the EU Commissioner responsible for Sport, Androulla Vassiliou, asking her to intervene with UEFA and FIFA regarding the use of TV technology to assist with international match decision-making. Read full story here.
1514 John Dunne has contacted us in response to Martin Wyer's e-mail at 1428. 'I have to admit I got it wrong with my prediction, am eating humble pie as we speak. I blame that psychic octopus who put a curse on poor Diego's Argentina and predicted Germany to win!'
1508 Well Kieran, maybe if you write to Joseph Blatter c/o FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland about your thoughts on the 3rd place play/off. This match was part of the European Championship at the 1980 tournament, but was scrapped there after. I wonder will it come back for Euro 2016 which will have 24 teams.
1505 Kieran Reddan, a Tipperary man, living in Limerick has been in contact with us many times through out the tournament. His latest opinion on things World Cup reads as follows: 'I think most of the footballing fraternity will be hoping for Netherlands to beat Uruguay as the theory I suspect that it would make for a
better final, but in my opinion it does not matter who gets to the final as I suspect the final to go the way of the majority of matches in this tournament. It will be a a dour unenjoyable climax to a very uninspiring World Cup for everyone no matter how FIFA and Sepp Blatter try to convince us otherwise. That said I think it will be a Netherlands v Spain final. Any thoughts on scrapping the 3rd place play-off, as think it's a waste of time.'
1428 Martin Wyer has e-mailed in with a bit of I told you so: 'I reckon this game will not be as straghtforward as it seems on paper, the Dutch are always great for a bit of drama, even if it's at their own expense.
'If you could indulge me, I'd like to gloat for a second a few weeks back I wrote in during the Argentina v South Korea game to say I didn't think Argentina were capable of winning the World Cup with the defense they have.
'John Dunne wrote in to shoot me down with the following words: "John Dunne tells Martin that it doesn't matter about defence when you've got Messi, Tevez, Aguero and Higuain up front." Well John, did you see how things worked out against Germany my friend?'
1359 Eamon Dunphy expects the Dutch to reach Sunday's final. Speaking on Today with Pat Kenny, he said: 'I expect the Dutch to win. Uruguay are weakened with the loss of three key players, but it won't be easy for the European side. Uruguay will be stubborn and their midfield is quite progressive and I think it will be a tight, cagey affair. If the Netherlands get an early goal, then things will really open up, but I would not be surprised if it went to extra-time. Uruguay have the players to stifle the game and the fact that Forlan will be their lone striker tonight limits their options - they will not mind going through on penalties. The Dutch have been efficient, without been spectacular in this World Cup, but I still think they have enough about them to get the required result.
1357 Uruguay coach Oscar Taberez feels all the pressure will be on the Dutch in Cape Town. He explained: 'The Dutch side will feel the burden of expectation far more than us. No-one really believes in us and the possibility we might win. We have to enjoy the World Cup and the match, make the most of it, because we know millions will be watching these players. This is a challenge, but also a reason for great happiness.'
