The Netherlands are through to the semi-finals after a penalty shootout victory.Louis van Gaal’s substitutions did it again. Eventually. Tim Krul, the Newcastle United goalkeeper who had not touched the ball in this World Cup before he was sent on for Jasper Cillessen at the end of extra time, was Holland’s hero on a breathless night that broke Costa Rican hearts.It was substitute Krul who saved the second penalty from Bryan Ruiz and the fifth from Michael Umaña to take Holland through, after a dogged Costa Rica had given them an almighty scare.Holland have a woeful penalty record in major championships and this will only increase their belief that they can now go all the way.It was the senior players on whom Van Gaal has built the backbone of his side – Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt – who nervelessly tucked away their penalties to book a semi-final with Argentina.Costa Rica, who had beaten Greece on penalties in the last round, had ridden their luck but it was a desperately cruel way for them to finally succumb.Holland may have had some good fortune at times, not least in overturning deficits against Australia and Mexico, but they have also made their own luck. Van Gaal has been bold in his willingness to change games from the bench, almost revelling in his daring.Strutting into the stadium like a peacock, he again shuffled his pack for this game. Perhaps mindful that his side have excelled on the counterattack but struggled to impose themselves on more defensively minded opponents, Van Gaal ditched the 5-3-2 shape that has been a bone of contention for some in Holland and overhauled his personnel to give his side more attacking intent.Kuyt, the ever-willing workhorse who has been starting as a left wing back, switched to the right and Memphis Depay, the young PSV Eindhoven striker who has impressed in his cameo appearances as substitute, came in on the left of a front three.Another change was forced on him, as Nigel de Jong has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a groin strain sustained against Mexico. Bruno Martins Indi came into defence, with the left back Paul Verhaegh dropping to the bench.Holland certainly began as if they expected to win, confidently building from the back and not allowing their Central American opponents time on the ball. Both sides had progressed to the quarter-finals on the counterattack and the Dutch knew the onus was on them.Yet as the half wore on, Los Ticos became more comfortable and were largely content to let the Dutch work the ball around in front of them. And when they needed to, they knew they could call on one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament in Levante’s Keylor Navas.Robben and Van Persie tried to make inroads and get their team firing. But there was a disjointedness about the Dutch and they sparked to life only sporadically.They could have gone ahead in the 23rd minute when Robben sent Kuyt running down the right with a delightful reverse pass. His cross found Depay, who in turn squared it to Van Persie. But Navas was equal to the shot and gobbled it up on the rebound from Sneijder.Depay then had a clear-cut chance after the Costa Rica captain, Ruiz, was harried out of possession by Stefan de Vrij and then Van Persie found his team-mate with a precise pass. But again Navas saved.Van Gaal has repeatedly underlined the importance of the collective over the individual. Yet some of his players remain more equal than others.Robben has become absolutely central. After the furore over his acrobatics during the Mexico game, when he won a late penalty and also admitted to diving to win a first-half free-kick, he was booed here by sections of the crowd as though he was a pantomime villain.After Jorge Luis Pinto had made pointed reference to Robben’s diving before the match, he appeared to be making an effort to stay on his feet. But there was no escape when he was bundled over by Júnior Díaz, who earned a yellow card for his trouble. Sneijder struck the resultant free-kick with accuracy but Navas was again equal to it.The Costa Ricans, who started this match as huge underdogs, were largely content to soak up the pressure. The closest they came was when Celso Borges headed down a set piece in the area but Johnny Acosta was unable to bundle the ball home.There were outstretched palms and pained expressions as the Dutch battled to unlock a Costa Rica defence that dropped ever deeper. For once, Van Gaal looked puzzled.Van Persie, who worked so hard to recover from injury to lead his team to Brazil, looked tired. But the talismanic captain had the chances to take his team through in a frantic final few minutes of normal time during which the Oranje surrounded the Costa Rica goal and were twice repelled by the woodwork.Robben, again Holland’s best player, relentlessly did battle with a defence brilliantly set up by Pinto and ably marshalled by Giancarlo González.As their opponents laid siege, the Costa Ricans dug deep. The goal of Keylor Navas, in the form of his life, led a charmed life.With less than 10 minutes left, Sneijder slammed a free-kick won by Robben against the post and it squirmed to safety. Minutes later Navas saved from Van Persie from an acute angle.Finally, with a minute of normal time to go, Daley Blind fired a ball across the six-yard box. The ball evaded three Dutch shirts before Van Persie steadied himself to put Holland into the semi-finals.But Yeltsin Tejeda somehow got his body in the way and the shot squirmed up on to the bar. The Costa Rica captain, Ruiz, looked to the heavens and smiled ruefully as his resolute side again went into extra time. Source : www.theguardian.com
