Netherlands underachievers anymore, not after the way fenced to upset five-time champion Brazil 2-1 in the FIFA World Cup quarterfinals on Friday 2/7/2010 and reached to semifinals.
Brazil, the five-times champions, took a 10th minute lead through Robinho and dominated the first-half against a Dutch team which initially looked outclassed.
But the Dutch levelled out of the blue in the 53rd minute after a rare mistake from Brazil's usually impenetrable defence, as Felipe Melo headed Sneijder's cross into his own goal.Then Sneijder headed a winner as the Dutch,battling to their 13th successive World Cup win to maintain a perfect record in the qualifiers and finals, avenged a quarterfinal defeat in 1994 and a semifinal defeat four years later.
Sneijder said, "In the changing-room at half-time,everyone said to each other 'let's give everything' and that's what we did. We fought for each other, in the second half, we put a lot of pressure on their defence and to score twice was fantastic."
He said more "We're in the last four of the world. To beat Brazil 2-1 in the quarterfinal, you have to be pleased with that. But in the next days, we will have to get our heads in focus again." Dutch coach said, "In the first 20 minutes, I was happy that the score was only 1-0, and I told Frank that we still have a chance. In the second half we showed how good we are,"
Brazil had started brightly with Felipe Melo, returning from an ankle injury which kept him out of the second round match against Chile, setting up the first goal after 10 minutes of the clash at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
He threaded a 30-metre pass through the Dutch midfield and Robinho timed his run perfectly to score with a first-time shot past Maarten Stekelenburg. The game turned niggly, although Brazil managed to produced a some flowing moves and should have extended their lead. Juan volleyed over from close range after a jinking run on the right by Dani Alves and Stekelenburg produced a superb one-handed save to tip away Kaka's curling effort, following a dazzling Robinho run down the left.
The Dutch rarely threatened with Arjen Robben far too predictable to outfox the Brazil rearguard.But they levelled out of the blue eight minutes after the break when Felipe Melo touched Sneijder's looping cross-shot into his own net.
Kaka missed an excellent chance to put Brazil back ahead, side-footing wide from the edge of the area after the ball was gifted to him by a poor clearance. Sneijder’s goal followed a corner kick from Robben. Dirk Kuyt flicked the ball with his head to Sneijder in the middle of the 6-yard box and he rose high enough to deflect it into the left corner of the goal.
Sneijder said, ''it was an amazing game. I think we showed the whole world how we can play, finally we won, we beat Brazil.''