Mighty Brazil has Fallen!

Posted by Yardie Luke on July 2, 2010 under World Cup Football | Comments are off for this article

Brazil has been dumped out of the World Cup by the Netherlands/Holland. The first half belonged to Brazil. They established a physical presence early as van Persie found out. Robinho and Kaka were very lively and they created problems for the Dutch players.

After seeing his goal ruled out for offside in the 8th minute, Roninho caught the Dutch defense napping a few minutes later as he ran onto a long pass by Melo and tucked the ball past the keeper. “This looks easy,” the Brazilians may have thought. And why not. They are 32-0-2 when taking a lead at the half.

However the second half was a complete turnaround. The Dutch pressed a little harder and Arjen Robben was a menace down the right flank. The deserved equalizer came in the 53rd minute from a wicked looping cross by Man of the Match Wesley Sneijder.

The second goal for the Netherlands came from a corner kick that was probably practiced several times by the Dutch. Dirk Kuyt sneaked in front of a Brazilian defender, headed the ball backwards and towards the center of the box and Sneijder directed the ball to the keeper’s right. Netherlands 2 Brazil 1.

Surely Brazil can fight back to equalize. However Felipe Melo had a moment of insanity as he stamped on Robben and was shown a straight red card. Selfish boy! With a man short the task of equalizing was made a lot more difficult. Additionally, forward Fabiano was not having a good game.

The Netherlands had more than one chance to widen the lead as Brazil pushed men forward in search of a goal. That goal never came and the Netherlands moves on to the semi-finals to face Uruguay or Ghana.