The Dutch Make Make History With Brazil Defeat
It was a game that was supposed to go one way, and one way only: with the samba kings dancing off the field and towards the finals, and the Dutch hitting the showers and then taking an airplane back home. But everyone knew it was more complicated than that, though the truth was slow to trickle onto the radar. That was until the opening seconds of the match, when people started to suggest the impossible. "Today we’ll see my point proven that Brazil aren’t as great a team as in previous years. Come on Holland!" someone wrote on BBC’s live chat.
The Netherlands rallied a huge underdog victory against Brazil Friday, coming back from a 1-0 deficit to outscore the five time champions 2-1. In the first half of play the Brazilians dominated and scored at the ten minute mark. As BBC Sport's Mark Lawrenson noted: "The Netherlands should be happy with 1-0 because they could easily be 2-0 or 3-0 down at the break." But as the second half went underway, it the Oranje took the game by the scruff of the net, playing the ball up the field quickly and controlling possession—stupefying the Brazilians in the process and forcing them into confusion and frustration.
Felipe Melo made a world of different in the match, and not in Brazil’s favour. Trying to stop a ball lobbed towards the net, he only managed to touch it as it floated into the net, tying the match at one-all. Not long after, he received a red card and was banished from the match, with little to show for it but giving the opposition a free goal.
A header following a corner kick by Wesley Sneijder at the 68th minute sealed the upset.
Robinho scored Brazil’s sole goal at the 10th minute of play, and it was a good one, suggesting a samba party was coming. Prior to the upset, Brazil had lost only two World Cup matches out of 25 in the southern hemisphere—against Yugoslavia in 1930, and Maracana in 1950.
Before the match coach Dunga said: “at this stage of the competition, nobody can afford to be over-cautious, you have to play to win. From now on, each game is the World Cup final. There is no time for recriminations and what has happened beforehand is of no consequence now."
This was in contrast to what Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk had said, assuring the world that his team doesn’t fear Brazil and that he believes they can beat them. He added: “They have their worries about us and maybe more than we know. Brazil are favourites for the World Cup, but we've proven we can also beat this type of opponent. I am fully confident of that.”
He was right.
With the loss fans are already mourning the Brazilian team of old. As one fan noted: "the Dunga experiment is over. Brazil should return to beautiful football."
Pat Nevin of BBC Sports was quick to quip after the match: “Robinho looked like a little schoolboy in the second half after looking a class act in the first. [There’s] no argument whatsoever. The better team has won today.”
The upset has also sparked interest in the question of who will be voted the top player of the World Cup. Competing neck to neck with Spain’s David Villa, is Holland’s Wesley Sneijder, one of the shortest players on the field.
After his goal, Sneijder sprinted to a camera and boasted by sticking his face up into the lens. When the final whistle of the match blew, he was also in the middle of post-game celebrating.
The Dutch made the World Cup Final in 1974 and '78, and lost both. Until now they have been viewed as a nation who produces beautiful football, but who rarely lives up to their expectations in World Cups. They are now one match away from another opportunity to win the big prize.
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