Keylor Navas was the MVP of the game.
The CONCACAF has not been doing well against the Netherlands. As you may remember, Mexico gave them a run for their money but the trio of Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie, and Arjen Robben was a little too much for them to handle, even with the wall that is Guillermo Ochoa blocking everything in his path.
Once again, they faced a beast of a goalkeeper in Keylor Navas and it was much of the same. Shots on goal were high for Holland and saves were high for the opposing team.
Dominating the time of possession and shots on goal, it seemed like Costa Rica couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end, but their defense was beasting.
Most of regulation consisted of Navas & the goal post vs. Netherlands, and it wasn’t up until the final 15 minutes or so that the game got real good, when Robben and company started attacking. Shot after shot, it seemed like nothing was going in and the gods were on the Costa Rican side.
There were plenty of opportunities that were not capitalized on. It was shocking at how Holland couldn’t put one at the back of the net.
And when it went into extra-time, the competition got more fierce.
Costa Rica got their first shot on goal after 117 minutes, but unfortunately, it was a miss for the squad that came mighty close.
The crossbar kept saving Costa Rica, with another near-scare that hit the top with only two minutes left before penalties. Considering, it didn’t go in, the game went into penalty kicks where Navas had the edge against Netherlands.
Luck ran out for Costa Rica in PK’s, as none of the Netherlands hit the post, and no blocks for Navas, all while penalty specialist Tim Krul calmly blocked two kicks to secure the 4-3 win for Netherlands. It was a thrilling finish to a great game.
Netherlands faces Argentina in the Semifinals on Wednesday.