The Netherlands vs. Argentina game matters to me, and it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter to me because I don’t really care which team makes it farther but it does matter to me because the winner of this game will be playing my beloved Germany in the finals and the team that loses will play against Brazil for third place. The problem? I’m not sure which one of these teams my teams could beat.
I feel like the Netherlands is terrifying. They have a strong trio that consists of Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder. Together, they are extremely fast. But Argentina is good too. Messi is talented, but I wonder if without him, there wouldn’t be a team.
Both teams have really good chances throughout the first half, but both are unlucky. They seem like they’re pretty evenly matched as they go from one end of the field and back to the other. However, I think Argentina has slightly more possession of the ball overall.
Martins Indi of the Netherlands gets a yellow card for hurting Messi, but I’m not really sure why. I think he pushed him. He had a yellow card from a previous game but with the new rules, all previous yellow cards get wiped out for the finals apparently. Because of this, Messi gets a free kick. It’s a good shot but the goalie catches it. Two minutes of additional time is added but the first half ends still at 0-0.
In the second half, another yellow card is given out. This time, to Di Maria of Argentina for “pushing” Robben down. Or rather, for Robben falling and making it look like he got pushed. I’m not surprised. Robben is always on the hunt for free kicks. He should really consider acting when his soccer career is over.
Both teams continue to take shots on net and both are still unable to score. Argentina has a close call and they actually do score in the right side of the net, but unfortunately the goal doesn’t count because the referee called it as offside. After seeing the replay, I think that was a bad call. It didn’t look offside to me. Unfortunate. That could have been the goal that decided the game.
At the end of the half, there’s still no goal so 30 minutes of overtime will be added. In the first half, Netherland’s Robben really shines as he takes plenty of good shots on net. A yellow card is handed out to Netherland’s Huntelaar for pushing.
In the second half, Robben gets a foul and even though he’s one of the oldest on the team, he stomps his feet like a five year old child, complaining to the referee that he didn’t deserve one. Ugh. He’s so annoying.
Overtime ends with no score so penalty kicks will determine the winner of this game. Amazingly, Romero, the goalkeeper for Argentina, is able to save two of the shots by the Dutch. Ultimately, that led to Argentina winning the game!
Really, they should of won when they first scored, instead of having the goal taken away because it apparently was offside. So it seems fair to me. I’m glad they won. Argentina plays Germany in the finals on Sunday while the Netherlands take on Brazil for third place on Saturday.
