The Netherlands managed to beat a tough Uruguay team by 3-2 in the Cape Town Stadium, and will be playing in the World Cup 2010 final for the third time in history and after 32 years. Now the Netherlands hope to break the unlucky against them final game tradition, and win the World Cup trophy for the first time in South Africa. This was the 14th straight victory for the Netherlands in World Cup level games, that also includes the World Cup 2010 qualifying matches. Uruguay on the other hand was unable to repeat the triumph and miracle of 1950, but instead the South Americans are going home with the title of the most pleasant surprise of the World Cup 2010 competition.
The match did not have many good chances during the first half, with Uruguay pressing throughout the entire field and almost completely shutting down the Netherlands offence. So the Dutch without being better, managed to open the score with a fantastic goal by captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his 35-meter unstoppable shot. The rhythm of the match did not change after the goal, with Uruguay controlling the game, making chances, and being more dangerous on the field. At least for the first 45 minutes the Netherlands were not really standing that well, and usual suspect Diego Forlán scored the equalizer in 41′ with another superb shot outside the penalty area.
Coach Bert van Marwijk saw that clearly his team was having huge problems in the midfield area, so decided to put Rafael van der Vaart in the game during half-time, looking to have a more offensive strategy in the last 45 minutes. Despite all that Uruguay was the team that missed the first classic chance of the second half: after a terrible Netherlands defensive play goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg tried to clear the ball that bounced on Edinson Cavani, ending up with Álvaro Pereira that shot on en empty net. But Van Bronckhorst was there to save another certain goal, giving up a corner instead.
And the man that took the Netherlands on his shoulders during the quarter-finals match against Brazil decided to strike again: Wesley Sneijder took a shot from inside the penalty area, the ball bounced on a defender and ended up inside Fernando Muslera’s net making it 2-1 for the Dutch in the 70′. Three minutes later and before Uruguay had fully recovered from the slap, Arjen Robben practically finished the game with a nice header from close range that left Muslera a statue. Maxi Pereira scored a second goal for Uruguay in extra time, but was not enough to stop the celebrations for the Netherlands after the final whistle.
Wesley Sneijder was named the MVP of the match, a title he definitely deserves having scored 5 goals for the Netherlands in the tournament so far. And Sneijder is on his way to breaking another amazing record: he could soon be the only player in history to win a domestic league double, a Champions League title and the World Cup trophy all in the same year!
