The top prediction at the start, I am the third ball king

Chapter 542 The Netherlands wins with a penalty kick!

At one o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, the quarter-finals between the Netherlands and Costa Rica started at the New Water Stadium in El Salvador.

"Tick!..."

With the whistle of the referee, the game officially began.

After the start of the game, both sides seemed very cautious, and there was no shot in the first 10 minutes!
In the 201st minute of the first half, the Netherlands got a chance to counterattack. Robben sent the ball to the wing.
Sneijder made a supplementary shot from the front of the penalty area and was hugged by Navas again!

The Netherlands posed a threat with their first shot.

In the ensuing game, the two sides had offense and defense with each other, but neither created an excellent chance to score a goal.

The two sides entered the second half with a score of zero to zero.

As time went on, the last runner-up gradually took control of the situation on the field and kept putting pressure on the Costa Rican defense.

In the No.30 second minute of the second half, the Dutch team got a direct free kick in an excellent position outside the penalty area. Sneijder's free kick bypassed the wall and flew towards the right side of the goal!

"Pong!..."

Just as the Dutch fans were about to cheer, the football hit the post hard!
"Do not!……"

The Dutch fans made a huge cry of regret.

"call!……"

The Costa Rica fans breathed a sigh of relief.

Under the strict defense of Costa Rica, the game entered stoppage time.

The Dutch team launched consecutive attacks, and Costa Rica was jittery in front of the goal.

Robben broke through from the right, Dias shoveled to escape the yellow card, Van Persie took a free kick and shot from a small angle was blocked by Navas.Then Blind made a cross from the left, and both Dirk Dirk and De Vry missed the goal!

Van Persie pushed his left foot back to the near corner, and Tejeda made a clearance from the goal line. The ball almost rubbed his nose and hit the crossbar!
The Dutch team missed the lore opportunity and could only enter overtime.

In the last minute of the second half of overtime, the Dutch team once again ushered in a lore opportunity!

Sneijder got a long-range shot from outside the penalty area, shot hard, and the football hit the crossbar!
Robben flies and shoots!

The football is blocked by a Costa Rican defender!

The Dutch team missed consecutive lore opportunities, and the game finally entered a brutal penalty shootout!

At the end of the game, Van Gaal made a substitution, making adjustments to the goalkeeper, replacing Cillessen with Krul.

It was this substitution that had a miraculous effect.

After five rounds of penalty kicks, Krul defended two penalty kicks. The Dutch team won the game [-]-[-] and advanced to the semi-finals thrillingly!

After the game, the Dutch players rushed into the field excitedly, we won!Won!
Before the game, they never thought that Costa Rica would drag the game into a penalty shootout.

Van Gaal was relieved and finally won it.

Van Gaal said in an interview: "I didn't expect the game to be a penalty shootout!

We are studied by many teams, so for us, the Dutch team has no secrets, which is also the difficult part of this game.

It was the same in the last game, and it will be the same in this one!
But we're in the semi-finals, which is great news for those who supported us! "

Talking about the semi-final against Argentina, Van Gaal didn't want to say too much: "The most important thing now is to sleep, and we will study the game against Argentina after we wake up!"

Talking about changing the goalkeeper in the last minute, Van Gaal said: "I think Krul is more suitable for penalties than Cillessen. He has been practicing for several weeks!"

At this moment, Krull is being interviewed excitedly: "It's incredible, I can't believe it. I keep telling myself that what I need is an opportunity."

Krull bluntly said that today's performance made him realize his dream: "Yes, this is a dream I have had since I was a boy."

For such a miraculous performance, Krull explained that it was entirely due to hard training: "The power of penalty kicks is always so great and will not decrease. We spent seven weeks of training and finally achieved results."

When asked how to guess the direction of the opponent's penalty kick, Krull said amazingly: "No, the direction of the opponent's penalty kick is completely opposite to what I expected. They kicked upwards against Greece in the last game. Kicked down."

……

The British Guardian commented on this game and believed that the Dutch team is very hopeful to win the championship:

"Van Persie and Sneijder scored three times in total. The Dutch team, which dominated the game, was unable to knock on the opponent's door in regular time and extra time, and was finally dragged to a penalty shootout by Costa Rica, which relied on iron and blood defense. No longer side with the uncrowned king.

However, Van Gaal's substitutions and the Dutch players' self-confidence and 100% penalty kick rate laid a solid foundation for the Oranje to advance to the semi-finals of this World Cup without any danger.

Extra time is a problem for the Netherlands, especially at the World Cup: in the four World Cup games they have played in extra time, the Netherlands have lost all - three times by opponents in extra time , once in a penalty shootout.

In four games without scoring a goal, the team's goal was pierced six times!

This is a heart disease of Dutch football, and it is also the biggest weakness of the uncrowned king. If they cannot overcome the demons and break the curse of overtime, the Oranje may not be able to make it to the end of the fiercely competitive and frightening World Cup.

No matter how gorgeous technology and super strength a team has, it is useless if it does not have strong spiritual willpower and the drive to start well and finish well.

For Dutch football, if overtime is a disease, then the penalty spell is an injury!

It is no longer news that the Netherlands is afraid of penalty kicks. The quarter-finals of this World Cup is the sixth penalty shootout that the Dutch team has experienced in major competitions. dismal.

The only victory came in the quarter-finals of the European Cup in 2004. In that game, the stars of the Netherlands were in a brave state. Except for Cocu who missed a penalty kick, the rest of the players made penalty kicks, helping the team beat Sweden to advance to the semi-finals. The Netherlands won a penalty shootout for the first time in European Cup history!
In the battle against Costa Rica, Van Gaal replaced Cillessen with Krul at the last moment of overtime, hoping that this life-and-death substitution would bring good luck to the team!
As a result, Krul lived up to expectations, and not only made all five saves in the right direction, but also saved the penalties of Ruiz and Umania, making the first contribution to the first penalty shootout for the Netherlands in the World Cup!

Records are meant to be broken!

After breaking through the double curse of overtime and penalty kicks in one fell swoop, the Dutch team inadvertently rewrote the record: In the past nine World Cup penalty shootouts, the team that took the first penalty kick won the final victory. The team stopped abruptly.

This is a glorious battle full of inspirational plots and fantastic colors!

After experiencing all kinds of setbacks and pains in the history of the World Cup, and tasted the bitter fruit of the last World Cup final, the uncrowned king reached the semi-finals again four years later.

There is no doubt that they are kings, and they are only two games away from winning the first World Cup trophy in team history!"

(End of this chapter)