Between them, they had dethroned the kings of international football.
The Netherlands and Chile have not just been the scourges of Spain. They have been revolutionaries, assailing tiki-taka with blistering counter-attacking and relentless pressing, respectively. The pace of change in the global order has been so swift that the meeting of the insurgent forces promised further upheaval.
It did not quite materialise. The established order reasserted its authority.
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Chile, the underdogs who have endeared themselves to so many, could not defeat a second finalist from the 2010 tournament. The Netherlands advance as group winners.
Along the way, they answered a question that baffled the beaten Spaniards: how do you beat Chile? Aim for the heights; literally, rather than metaphorically.
Out-jumping Chile proved a profitable policy for the Netherlands. Leroy Fer headed in Daryl Janmaat’s cross for the decisive opening goal. Before then, Stefan de Vrij had almost broken the deadlock from an Arjen Robben free-kick. The centre-back was towering over his markers, his height advantage all too apparent.
Jorge Sampaoli’s squad is the shortest in the tournament. Tim Cahill troubled Chile with his aerial ability in Australia’s 3-1 defeat and Netherlands heeded that. Chile have made themselves faster and fitter; becoming taller, however, is a task too far.
Netherlands looked for the big lad in the box; total football it was not. Then again, even the starting XI was not very Dutch; for the first time since 1996, there was not a player whose surname begins with “van”. Robin van Persie was suspended while former teammates such as Edwin van der Sar, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Mark van Bommel and Giovanni van Bronckhorst have retired.
The lone “van” was on the bench: manager Louis van Gaal, who has eschewed a possession-based game to focus on defending deep and breaking quickly.
Holland’s second goal was a case in point: Robben’s direct run and centre led to Memphis Depay’s simple finish. Van Gaal has turned winger Robben into a central figure in this tournament in every respect.
Innovative ideas have benefited both of these sides. The dugouts contained two of the great tactical brains of this tournament, Van Gaal and Sampaoli. Each has changed his system; indeed, Chile’s Argentine manager did again with 20 minutes to go, sacrificing centre-back Francisco Silva for false nine Jorge Valdivia, the former Al Ain midfielder, in his quest for a group-deciding winner.
It was a gambit that backfired. Until then, as they played similar shapes and cancelled out each other, it was a sign of Chile’s prowess that for long periods, it seemed Netherlands were concentrating on stopping the South Americans, rather than vice versa.
Sampaoli complained the Dutch were defensive, but it seems impossible to take on Chile at their own game. They tend to dictate matches, whether the game’s tempo, tactics or simply which part of the pitch it will be played in. They scurry around enemy territory, menacing with their energy.
Dirk Kuyt, a hard-running left winger in the Netherlands’ last World Cup campaign, was in effect a hard-running left-back now, tracking Mauricio Isla. A former striker was a stranger to the opposition’s half.
Yet he is part of Van Gaal’s blend. The division between artists – Robben, Van Persie and Wesley Sneijder – from his strongest side – and artisans, the others, is clearly marked.
Robben delivered another eye-catching performance and is a putative player of the tournament but this was a victory that owed much to the midfield scrapper, Nigel de Jong.
Chile had the ball for two-thirds of the match. It was an exercise in concentration, in determination, in organisation for Holland. Sampaoli referred to a “hard wall” in the Dutch defence. It was a blockade against a blur of energy.
Few can match Chile’s movement. Alexis Sanchez, neither striker nor winger, but somewhere in between, defying orthodox descriptions, was excellent again. He will have another ally when the rested Arturo Vidal returns in the last-16, but it is Netherlands who progress with an immaculate record.
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