Goals: None
Recap: It took five rounds of penalties, but the Netherlands were able to move past Costa Rica after a scoreless draw on Saturday.
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Superb goalkeeping from Costa Rica’s Keylor Navas kept Los Ticos in the contest for a majority of the match, denying the Dutch on eight of their 20 attempts. His compatriots, however, were unable to generate much of an attack of their own. Costa Rica finished 120 minutes with just one shot on frame. In the end, it was the goalkeeping of Tim Krul that saved the Netherlands. Two penalty stops sees them through to the semifinals.
Key Moment: Louis Van Gaal’s tactical genius was on display again. With one final sub remaining, the Dutchman turned to his penalty specialist on the bench, Krul. The bold move proved to be effective. Two saves in the most trying times of the tournament ultimately decided the contest.
Man of the Match: The match doesn’t even reach penalties if not for Costa Rica’s Keylor Navas. The 27-year-old finished the match with seven saves and one cross claimed.
Lesson Learned: Costa Rica and the rest of CONCACAF are deserving of more respect. The tiny nation of just four million people went nine matches against five former major champions (Uruguay, Italy, England, Greece and the Netherlands) and finished the tournament with nine points, zero defeats and a plus-three goal differential. The final four in the World Cup are represented by UEFA and CONMEBOL, but other, less-heralded confederations are slowly growing and competing.
Up Next: The Netherlands travels to Sao Paulo to face Argentina on July 8, while Costa Rica returns home to prepare for the next World Cup cycle.
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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