The second and final day of the Quarter Finals for the 2014 FIFA World Cup saw the other side of the table completed after two games with Argentina v Belgium and Netherlands v Costa Rica.
The first game of the day featured Argentina clash against dark horse Belgium who claimed they could stifle the attacking genius of Lionel Messi, something no team has been able to do.Not long from the starting whistle it appeared that Belgium had been too confident in their ability to stop The Flea as the Barcelona striker created a chance that bounced off the Belgium defense into the legs of Gonzalo Higuain who quickly struck at goal and netted the ball past Belgium goalkeeper, Curtois. From then on Argentina played a slow paced game that made it clear that their approach was to take it easy, not make mistakes, and keep the win. This approach gave Argentina the results they wanted as Belgium failed to strike a goal thanks in part to a solid Argentine defense that although was questioned before the cup has managed to only concede 3 goals in the tournament so far, also in part to Belgium lacking the final flair needed to break down the defense instead of settling for long shot strikes. Ultimately it was Argentina who won and progressed to the semi finals with an ugly but effective 1-0 win.
The second game of day was a game that on paper seemed incredibly lopsided, and the final stats will also indicate that there was only ever going to be one winner as Netherlands completely dominated Costa Rica for not just 90 minutes but for all 120 that Costa Rica was able to hold up against the bombardment of strikes that came towards their goal. 20 shots with 16 on target for Netherlands against 6 and 3 for Costa Rica shows the difference in attacking and if it had not been for Costa Rica’s wonder-goalie, Keylor Navas and for moments of sheer luck, the game could have easily ended 6-0. At least. But Costa Rica did not show fear and fought until the final whistle to push the Holland national team into deserving their win. The game came to penalty shoot outs and a genius substitution by Louis van Gaal, switching goal keepers for the penalties, proved critical as Tim Krul blocked two Costa Rican penalties that would give Netherlands the win and spot in the next game against Argentina.
Tuesday’s Game:
Brazil v Germany @4PM
Wednesday’s Game
Argentina v Netherlands @4PM