2014 FIFA World Cup™ Semi-Finals: Netherlands vs Argentina| Wednesday, Jul 9, 4:00 PMET

Accept it: Pundits, commentators and fans alike are absolutely singleminded on this issue - this was a boring game.

The only odd men out are Argentina fans.

 

I appreciated the good defensive work well enough. I very much liked Mascherano's roll in that match, one of the few highlights of that match.. What I don't appreciate is condescending posters like that other guy and you telling the rest of us who found this match boring that we don't understand it or that we are haters, or that would should watch basketball instead.

 

That would mean one of the two teams was better tactically than the other. It´s not what´s being said here.

 

Both teams were scared to lose. They never committed the numbers forward to make the difference, and make defences struggle. Netherlands were happy to control possession in their own half for large spells, and often just tried pinging ball up to the front 2 (who were against a packed defence). When Argentina were in possession they hoped for their few forwards to make a difference, without truly committing and pulling defensive players out of position. Masterclass...pffftt. They both crapped themselves.

 

The match wasn't a thriller; that much is for sure. Whether it was outright boring, however, depends on your perspective. I wasn't quite bored, since I felt it was possible for either side to score even if real chances were few and far in between. However, since much of the game featured two sides who were obviously reluctant to be find themselves exposed in the back, and who played cautiously with Holland in particular constantly aiming to draw Argentina's players towards them in order to find space to exploit on the counter, there was an element of tactical chess that was at play as well.

Incidentally, whether the game was boring or not, it was by and large well played, except for Holland really doing poorly with their set pieces. Otherwise, these were two roughly comparable teams, each having players who could turn things around if given the chance, playing a tactically articulate game whose overriding purpose was to see their team advance to the final regardless of whether that mission would be accomplished in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

 

The reason I don't feel it was really a tactical masterclass was because the teams didn't nullify themselves in midfield. Both teams basically bunkered and committed very few players forward.

 

@argentine soccer fan;
about Robbens comment.
GERMAN press!

@Karloski & others;
You did not notice that at some point both teams had three strikers in the field?

 

Since Robben plays in Germany and is fluent in the black tongue of Mordor I doubt he was misquoted or that this is a translation issue.

 

You could be right with that, but it is not what i meant.
You probably gave the answer yourself: he plays in Germany.

 

Okay, someone had suggested earlier that something might have been lost in translation, much like Van Gaal's joke about teaching Romero how to block PKs.

 

It was my first asumption after the "accidental" misinterpretation of Robben confessing to a dive, among other things.
You have the poster right.

 

Got it.

To be honest the "controversy" seems kind of silly, as the rest of Robben's comments were the obligatory complementary clichés and the video of him trying to console his young son was touching and shows he is not a heartless monster.

 

He said as much. To paraphrase, Van Gaal said he was proud that he/AZ saw the talent in Romero and were responsible for bringing him to Europe and that it takes a special talent to do what he did (block 2 of 4 in the PK shootout).

 

Do we know why they didn't use their penalty specialist goalie?
Were they saving him for....later.....??

 

They had no subs left.

 

Right. But the question might have been, why didnt LVG save a sub for him? And I think RVP couldn´t stay any longer.

 

RVP was knackered and could barely stand. I think it is safe to say LVG would have left him on the pitch if only for the PK shootout itself, but asking him to go for another 25 minutes after battling a stomach bug just the day before was bridge too far. He probably should have started Huntelaar and saved van Persie for extra time. That way he'd have both available for the shootout, but what do I know?

 

I laughed harder than I care to admit.

 

I doubt either manager thought it was going 120 minutes. I am sure LVG would have played his cards differently had he known. I know I would have (see comments two posts above).

 

A GK born in Racing