Netherlands Vs Argentina or Argentina Vs Netherlands – it
remains the same both ways - it was the hope before the match – and thankfully,
the regular hours and the extended minutes were on this line.
The hope was on Argentina
to extend the team performance to Lionel Messi – and the hope was that it be at
par with the Netherlands
team performance and the Oranje 'trio's (Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and
Wesley Sneijder) fabulous show.
The hope was - it would help us to accommodate the letdown
of the Brazil Vs Germany match that was indeed
Germany>>>>>>>Brazil – Brazil were never in the game – and
even if Germany was not on the top of its game, it’s dominance over Brazil on
the day was unparalleled.
The hope was that the 2nd World Cup 2014 Semifinal
would indeed be a FIFA World Cup event – I hoped I won't have bizarre shocking
developments during the match, something that packed the Brazil Vs Germany
match - yes, Football surprises regularly and we would love to have such
surprises of a challenging and competitive game but the outright capitulation
what Brazil did yesterday, was unacceptable.
Many, many points to hope, and hope, and seeking hope,
after the Germany>Brazil
semi-final the bad taste of which will take long to go!
The first half was uneventful with 0-0 score. As expected,
the Dutch had the ball more but Argentina,
too, were on the job.
Corners, free kicks, fouls and ground mapping were having
their passages but no goal could be kicked in. –
There was this hope and expectation that the conserved
energy of the first half (if that was so) would generate more heat and thus would
create intense waves and ways to the goalposts - for stats, Argentina were the first scorers in
their matches in this World Cup.
But no goals still when it was 90 minutes! No goals still
when it was the first half of the 30 minutes of the Extra Time. Then 120 minutes
of the game (excluding the additional minutes) and the score was still 0-0. It
was time for Penalty Shootout then. We expected Netherlands’ Total Football could
give us an all European FIFA World Cup 2014 final in that case, though it wasn’t
to be.
Yes, a Penalty Shootout end to a good match like this is
always unfortunate because the losing team doesn't deserve to lose like this,
as it happened with Netherlands.
But going on Penalties has no alternative as of now – and in
the war of nerves and on the luck factor, it proved to be the Argentina's day
in the end.
Stretching till 4:15 AM India time - but the match was
worth its time - an overall good match to give us Germany Vs Argentina final.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com