Costa Rica had been the darlings of this World Cup. They had dethroned the giants of Uruguay and Italy in the group stage. They took on Greece and beat them in a penalty shootout. Then, they took on another giant in the Netherlands. Once again, they were outmatched on paper and, once again, they took that superior opponent to the brink before finally succumbing.
The Netherlands-Costa Rica match from yesterday was eerily similar to the USA-Belgium match from Tuesday afternoon. The Dutch were dominating play, Arjen Robben was running rampant over the Costa Rican defenders. They were peppering Keylor Navas with shot after shot. They were hitting posts, forcing diving saves, and sometimes barely missing. Any counter attack that was mounted fizzled quickly. But the underdogs survived anyway. For 120 minutes, Costa Rica were under constant assault. There was no rest for the powerful Dutch attack.
Towards the end of both regular time and extra time, Costa Rica did manage a chance to steal the result and become the first CONCACAF team in the semifinals since the USA in the very first World Cup in 1930. They managed to get numbers forward on a counter and with some ticky-tack passes got a quality shot on Jasper Cillessen.
Sadly, it was not to be. The Netherlands brought in a cold goalkeeper for the penalty shootout. Tim Krul, despite not seeing any action in the game, came in a stopped two out of five Costa Rican attempts while the Dutch shooters went four for four. The Cinderella run had ended, but it sure didn't go down without a fight. It was exactly the excitement you can hope for in a 0-0 match. Plenty of close calls, a couple counters, and an underdog trying to make history. This, and the 0-0 Mexico-Brazil draw, were perfect examples of why there don't have to be any goals for there to be excitement.
In the other match of the day, Argentina wasted no time getting a goal from Gonzalo Higuain in the eighth minute. It was a supreme strike, as well. Lionel Messi danced his way through midfield in his typical fashion and attempted to find Angel Di Maria in the box. The ball in got deflected and fell right to Higuain, who was in the right place at the right time to volley it into the back of the net.
Argentina spent much of the remainder defending Belgian attacks. Several times, Kevin DeBruyne was given space to pick out a pass, but one never truly connected. Argentina routinely dropped eight guys behind the ball in order to protect their one goal lead. They even got a couple chances to add on. Higuain nailed a crossbar after embarrassing the Belgian defense, Messi had a breakaway that Thibaut Courtois robbed.
Late game insertions of Romelu Lukaku and Dries Mertens had no effect on Belgium as they did against the USA. The one goal was enough for Argentina to advance to their first World Cup semifinal since 1990.
We now have our two semifinal matchups. Both contain a large level of intrigue and drama. First off, on Tuesday, we find out if Brazil can overcome the loss of Neymar and Thiago Silva to take out a comparatively healthy German squad. The winner of that match will face the victor of Wednesday's Argentina and Netherlands collision. It would be difficult to say that the four best teams are not the only ones remaining. Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, and Argentina have played the best football so far in this tournament, and all four belong in the penultimate round.
Sadly, we have one more day off after today before we get back to the action. Enjoy the much needed rest, and come back ready to conclude an exciting World Cup.
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