FIFA World Cup 2014: Brazil! 5-time champions lose third place match to the Dutch
Braslia: Brazil’s traumatic World Cup ended with more pain on Saturday as they lost 0-3 to a superior Holland side in the third-place play-off at the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia. Still struggling to digest their record-breaking 1-7 loss to Germany in the semifinals, Brazil had a similarly disastrous start against the Dutch, with Robin van Persie opening the scoring from the penalty spot inside three minutes.
With injured star Neymar watching on from the bench, Daley Blind then capitalised on more calamitous defending to make it 2-0 with 17 minutes played, and Georginio Wijnaldum rubbed salt into the hosts’ wounds by adding a third in injury time. Brazil have now lost back-to-back home games for the first time since 1940, and they end the tournament having conceded 14 goals altogether, the most of any side at a World Cup since 1986 and the most ever for a host team.
In contrast, Louis van Gaal’s the Netherlands leave with the consolation of taking third place and end the competition unbeaten, with their semifinal exit against Argentina only coming after a penalty shoot-out. The day had not started well for Holland, who saw playmaker Wesley Sneijder withdraw at the last minute due to an injury suffered in the warm-up, with Jonathan de Guzman replacing him in the starting line-up.
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had made six changes to his team following the Germany debacle, with one seeing captain Thiago Silva make his return after suspension.
Silva was at fault as Brazil conceded a penalty with less than two minutes played. He was caught the wrong side of Arjen Robben as the winger latched onto a pass from Holland captain van Persie and was left with a clear path on goal. Robben was pulled back by the defender, with the contact starting outside the box and carrying on into the area. Algerian referee Djamel Haimoudi decided to award a spot-kick but controversially opted against showing Silva a straight red card.
If Silva was let off the hook, van Persie made no mistake from the spot, lashing his kick high into the top right-hand corner to give goalkeeper Julio Cesar no chance. Once again Brazil’s defensive frailties were hopelessly exposed when the Netherlands’ second goal arrived in the 16th minute, courtesy Daley Blind, who scored his first international goal. Then, Georginio Wijnaldum stuck in injury time to hurt the hosts.
