By Tam Nguyen, Nguoi Viet
Saturday’s quarterfinal match between the Netherlands and Costa Rica should be a great one. The Dutch narrowly escaped with a 2-1 win over Mexico, and Costa Rica defeated Greece in penalty kicks, 5-3. The winner of this match will face Argentina or Belgium.
Wesley Sneijder, center, of the Netherlands scores his team’s first goal during the World Cup Round of 16 match between the Netherlands and Mexico last Sunday. (File photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Kickoff: 1 p.m. PDT, ESPN
Players to watch
NETHERLANDS: Wesley Sneijder was the unsung hero for the Netherlands, tying the game late in the match against Mexico. Sneijder had four shots on goal, leading the team in that category. Expect him to be a hero once again against Costa Rica ― a team similar to Mexico.
COSTA RICA: Goalkeeper Keylor Navas had a stellar performance in the win against Greece, stopping seven shots. Navas also came up big when he blocked a penalty kick to send Greece packing. The Netherlands will have a tough time trying to score against Navas, whose confidence level is high.
Keys to victory
NETHERLANDS: The Dutch have to speed up the offense to get by the Costa Rican defenders, who are similar to Mexico’s. The Netherlands wasn’t fast enough to get high-percentage shots against Mexico and were lucky to advance. The Dutch must play tight defense and not let anything get by them in the box; Costa Rica can strike quickly once in the box.
COSTA RICA: This team needs to generate a lot more scoring chances; the Costa Ricans will need shots to beat Netherlands. The defenders need to slow down the Netherlands’ offense by blocking out their key forwards and not letting them drive the ball into the box.
Prediction: Do not expect to see a lot of scoring in this match. The Netherlands will play the same style as against Mexico. Costa Rica will have to fight to crawl back into the game after giving up an early goal.
Final score: Netherlands 1, Costa Rica 0
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