The World Cup 2014 tournament is live in the quarterfinals for the Netherlands and Costa Rica and the game is on ESPN and ESPN radio with a live stream online as the Dutch try to advance for the second tournament in a row and this game is in Salvador at Arena Fonte Nova and is the final matchup for the semis, with Brazil, Argentina and Germany already through to the next stage.
The Netherlands made it to the final against Spain last time around in South Africa and now they are trying to make history along with Germany in South America, as no European team has won the tournament while it was held on that continent. Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie have been fantastic during the World Cup and those two players will be key for the team if they want to keep going, while Costa Rica has been one of the surprises of the tourney.
Costa Rica is giving CONCACAF a nice name, as they advanced over England and Italy along with Uruguay and now they have gone farther than they ever have before into the quarterfinals round. The team has never been into the semis and this would be massive going forward, especially after beating Greece in penalties with a man down. The team now is playing against one of the favorites in the tournament and the Dutch side along with Argentina, Germany and Brazil are all favored over CR to advance and win the tournament.
The game against Mexico in the last round was very controversial for the Netherlands, as they got a penalty call at the end of the game in stoppage time that basically decided the game. Robben drew some contact on the play deep in the offensive zone and Mexico was way too aggressive on him and he used that to his advantage and ended up getting the call and the team put the goal in to win the match. Mexico has never been past the round of 16 and they felt this one was taken from them and now the Dutch will deal with another strong team in Costa Rica.
Oscar Duarte was hit with a red card in the last game and that meant over half the game for Costa Rica with a man down and they were able to survive in penalties despite a late goal from the Greek side to send it to that. The Ticos have the chance to pull a big upset and they will have to control Van Persie, who is looking very energized after missing a month during the Premier League season for an injury and that looks to have been an advantage for him.
Brazil is through to the next round but they will be without Neymar after he suffered a freak back injury on a bad tackle from a player on Colombia and the referee is getting very criticized after letting the game get way out of hand. Brazil could explode if they lose because Neymar is out and he has been one of the most impressive players here along with Lionel Messi and now him and players like Thomas Muller and David Luiz will have the spotlight in the semis. The host nation was the heavy favorite for the whole tournament and now they are even with Germany heading into the final four teams and two games for the finals.
Check here for the World Cup live coverage from ESPN for the quarter finals matchup.
