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| Daryl Janmaat sparked The Netherlands to victory.Photo credits: Getty Images |
Some real key substitutions in the second half by the Netherlands sparked a 2-0 victory over Chile yesterday. The Netherlands secured the top spot in Group B and has advanced to the Round of 16.
By: Sunil Sunderraj
The first half of this match began at a leisurely pace as scoring chances were hard to come by for both teams. The style and pace of the match was far from a thing of beauty.
There was allot of rugged play as numerous fouls were called on both teams, making an already elongated half of play move at the pace of an ice glacier. It became a tactical battle for both teams to see which team would flinch first. The shots on goal that were created were either wide of the goal net or sailed over the crossbar. entirely.
It took until the 64th minute of the second half for the first real scoring chance of the match to arrive. Alexis Sanchez of Chile gathered the ball inside the box area and drilled the ball toward the net which was batted away by Netherlands goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen to keep Chile off the board.
One of those second half substitutions that proved to be crucial was Leroy Fer being substituted for Wesley Sneijder. That move would automatically pay off as he would score his first international goal. The goal came courtesy of a cross pass from teammate Daryl Janmaat in the 77th minute giving the Dutch a 1-0 lead.
It was a tremendous goal a it came via a spectacular downward header which Chile’s goalkeeper Bravo could do nothing with as it whistled past him into the back of the net.
The Dutch looked to seal this victory up with another goal and they would do just that in the 91st minute. The second goal started from a long breakout pass to Arjen Robben who raced down the left flank towards the end line sneaking in a crisp cross pass to another key substitution in Memphis Day, who flicked the ball into the back of the net making the game all but out of reach for Chile.
The Netherlands next faces a tough challenge in Mexico in the round of 16.Meanwhile for Chile they too are in the round of 16 and face juggernaut Brazil. 