Argentina again crushes Oranje’s World Cup dreams on penalties

The Netherlands were knocked out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Friday as they lost on penalties to Argentina. The match was level at 2-2 after 120 minutes as Wout Weghorst popped up as an unlikely hero scoring twice. Lionel Messi and Nahuel Molina got Argentina’s goals. Virgil Van Dijk and Steven Berghuis missed their penalties for the Netherlands.

This is the second time that Argentina has knocked out The Netherlands on penalties, as Oranje was defeated in 2014 in the same manner. Louis Van Gaal was also the manager then.

Louis van Gaal made one change in his lineup bringing in Steven Bergwijn to replace his Ajax teammate Davy Klaassen. Argentina's manager also made one change to his side, bringing in ex-Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez to replace Alejandro Gomez.

The first half was cagey, with the Netherlands seemingly comfortable having had the best chance of the first half through Steven Bergwijn, who pulled his shot wide. That was until Lionel Messi decided to make his mark on the game. The PSG attacker received the ball about thirty yards from goal before playing a sublime through ball to right-wing back Nahuel Molina, who toe-poked the ball past Andries Noppert to give Argentina the lead.

Argentina was leading at halftime in the Lusail Iconic Stadium, which seats 90,000 people. The Dutch fans were very much in the minority as they only sold 1,400 tickets, unlike Argentina, which had over 40,000 fans in the stadium.

Argentina doubled their lead from the penalty spot after 73 minutes. Marcos Acuna cut inside on Denzel Dumfries, who caught the full-back with an outstretched leg. Messi took full advantage, curling the ball into the corner past the helpless Noppert.

Ten minutes later, the Dutch got a goal back as Substitute Wout Weghorst powered a header into the far corner.
The match finished with a skirmish in the final stages as Leandro Paredes kicked the ball into the Dutch bench, clearing the bench as the players ran onto the pitch to confront Paredes.

Weghorst got his second with one of the last kicks of the game to take the match to extra time. A free kick close to the edge of the area was passed into the box by Teun Koopmeiners to Weghorst, which took the Argentina defence by surprise; Weghorst took a touch before rolling the ball into the net.

Extra time was uneventful, with both teams worried of making the match-losing mistake. Virgil Van Dijk made a massive block from a Lautaro Martinez effort after 24 minutes played in extra time after the Inter Milan striker got on the end of a Gonzalo Montiel cross.

Argentina rallied with a late run of pressure on the Dutch goal resulting in Noppert making several saves and Enzo Fernandez hitting the post in added time.

Emiliano Martinez was the hero for Argentina in the shootout saving the shots from Virgil Van Dijk and Steven Berghuis. Van Dijk was the first penalty-taker for the Netherlands, but his powerful effort was at the perfect height for Martinez to punch away. Berghuis went second and went for the opposite corner that Van Dijk did, but Martinez guessed right again, giving Oranje a mountain to climb. Lautaro Martinez scored the winning penalty for Argentina after Fernandez had missed.

With their victory, Argentina advanced to the semi-finals, where they will take on Croatia, who also won on penalties earlier on Friday. The team emerged with a shocking win over Brazil after equalizing at the end of extra time to make it 1-1, and then winning 4-2 on penalties.

Argentina will face Croatia at Lusail Iconic Stadium on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Netherlands time.