FIFA World Cup 2010: Netherlands vs. Uruguay player ratings
Netherlands beat Uruguay three goals to two, to book a place in the final of the World Cup 2010, but just what player stood out over the rest?
The Uruguayan keeper, Fernando Muslera, had little or no chance with stopping the three Dutch goals but he pulled off a few good saves throughout the match, specially the second half save against Mark Van Bommel. In defence Maxi Pereria and Diego Godin performed the best, with Perira getting forward often but he was very reckless and retained possession. Godin had a solid game and marked Van Persie with precision, not giving the striker any breathing space.
Mauricio Victorino was Lugano’s replacement but he failed to make the same impact that his captain would have made on the side. Martin Caceres played a good game, almost broke De Zeeuw’s jaw and showed his diving skills when he went down to a tame tackle by Wesley Sneijder.
In the Uruguay midfield, Walter Gargano and Arevlao Rios had the best performances with solid tackling and possession retention, but they did not have the passing abilities to really hurt the Dutch on the offence. Diego Perez and Pereira also had good games, with Perez constantly breaking down Dutch attacks and Periera showing glimpses of being an attacking threat. Diego Forlan was the hit man for his team, he did not have his best performance to date. He was still trying though, and he scored a stunner of a goal and took some decent free kick throughout.
Moving on to the Netherlands squad, Maarten Stekelenburg, was just terrible, he could have easily kept out Forlan’s shot, he almost gifted Uruguay another goal, but the only highlight was his block on Forlan’s freekick. Heitinga and Mathijsen played simple decent games at the back, making good tackles breaking up play and giving good performances overall. Boulahrouz was solid and kept all the attacking threats from Uruguay quiet throughout the match. Giovanni Van Bronckhorst had a perfect game for any captain, he scored what might have been the goal of the tournament and kept possession brilliantly for his side.
Mark Van Bommel was aggressive throughout the game a was lucky not to be booked on quite a few occasions but overall worked hard. Robben had a quiet first half but was unstoppable in the second, he scored a brilliant header but wasted a few sitters as well. Wesley Sneijder did not write the script to the Dutch game in his usual style, but scored his fifth goal of the tournament and was at the heart of all the attacks.
Dirk Kuyt had his usual game, he ran like there was no tomorrow, got into excellent positions and whipped in a brilliant cross that Robben scored off of. Robin Van Persie had a very quiet game according to his standards, he didn’t fit in the lone striker role very well, but like the rest of the team worked hard throughout and was constantly being marked by the entire Uruguayan defense
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