The Netherlands has barely resembled the imposing squad that dismantled Spain in the opener, needing van Gaal’s savvy to avoid elimination in each of its knockout games. Arjen Robben has been magnificent – theatrics aside – but Robin van Persie has been largely absent and the Dutch have struggled to finish.
And no matter what formation van Gaal uses, the Dutch defense will have its hands full with Lionel Messi and Argentina. The Albiceleste finally seemed to have found their groove against Belgium after early struggles of their own, though not having Angel di Maria (thigh) against the Netherlands is a huge loss.
The one thing neither team lacks is motivation. This is Argentina’s first trip to the semifinals since 1990 while the Dutch are still bitter after coming oh-so close four years ago.
PREDICTION
ARGENTINA 1 - NETHERLANDS 0 (EXTRA TIME)
Argentina’s biggest problem early on was letting opponents hang around until too late, and it will pay dearly if it tries that against the Netherlands. The Dutch like to start fast so they can set the tempo for the game, and Argentina will be playing catch-up the whole night if it doesn’t respond immediately. A couple of early chances from Messi will even things out.
How they got here:
Argentina 2 - 0 Slovenia
Argentina 2 - 1 Bos.-Herz.
Argentina 3 - 2 Nigeria
Argentina 1 - 0 Switzerland
Argentina 1 - 0 Belgium
How they got here:
Nethlerands 5 - 1 Spain
Netherlands 3 - 2 Austrailia
Netherlands 2 - 0 Chile
Netherlands 2 - 1 Mexico
Netherlands 0 - 0 Costa Rica
No comments:
Post a Comment