Match date: 29 June 2014

Louis van Gaal continued with three centre backs, with Paul Verhaegh coming in as the right wing back. Dirk Kuyt continued at left wing back, while Daley Blind initially started as the left sided centre back, before replacing Nigel de Jong as the holding player.

Miguel Herrera had to make an enforced change, as Jose Vazquez was suspended having received two yellow cards in the group stages. As a result, Herrera opted to played Carlos Salcido in the holding role with Mexico continuing in a 3-5-2 as well.

First Half Patterns

The first half was overall very slow due to the tactical nature of the game as well as the heat and humidity that caused to pre-planned ‘cooling breaks’ 30 minutes into each half. With both teams playing a 3-5-2, it meant that both had a spare centre back, with matched midfields, and wing backs challenging one another in the wide areas. It was interesting to see just how much the free centre back dictated the play for each side.

Both Vlaar and Marquez were given all the time on the ball to pick out passes. Vlaar kept things tidy, he didn’t misplace a pass, but also didn’t look to play anything expansive to try to catch the Mexican defenders in unbalanced positions, though a lot of this is down to his technical ability. He did hit a crossfield ball to Verhaegh, but it poorly weighted and the right wing back could only head the ball upfield to a Mexican defender. Marquez, however, looked to play direct passes and was much more willing to dribble forward with the ball to give Mexico a short lived advantage in midfield. Wesley Sneijder would usually step to him to put on some pressure causing Marquez to pass the ball off and Mexico could get through the midfield a little easier.

With that said, Mexico were the better side in the first half and looked more capable of getting the first the goal, which they eventually did, as they were able to figure out how to play around the Netherland’s man-marking at the back. As they’ve done throughout the tournament, the Netherland’s have stuck to man-marking, even in the opening match against the fluid movement of Spain’s supporting attack. In that match, De Vrij would even find himself closing down his player ahead of his midfielders, leaving gaps at the back that were usually not exploited. To counteract the man-marking, both dos Santos and Peralta looked to drop into midfield to draw out their man-marker, to allow space to open up behind for Guardado and Herrera to run into and exploit.

Overall, the first half seemed to be a reliance from both teams on individual ability. Robben was clearly the outlet for the Netherlands. Van Persie would drop deep, with Robben looking to exploit the space in behind and when the Bayern Munich player would drop deep, he would then run at the Mexican back line with pace and should have had a penalty in the first half.

Mexico looked to Giovani dos Santos, whether he was making decoy runs to open up space for others or getting chances himself. Mexico had three shots on target in the first half against a shaky Cillessen, with two coming from dos Santos.

Van Gaal’s First Changes, Herrera’s Response

Mexico scored first, through Giovani dos Santos, early in the second half. Van Gaal took a few minutes, but responded by bringing off Verhaegh and replacing him with Memphis Depay, which allowed the Netherlands to change their system into a 4-2-1-3, with Dirk Kuyt moving from left wing back to a right full back role. Robben moved from being on of two central forwards to a right winger role as he is at Bayern Munich. This was a significant change in that it pinned Mexico back and made their wing backs sit very deep, making a back line of five rather than three, which allowed space for Kuyt and Martins Indi to push into and support their wingers.

Robben reacted well to this change as he was down afforded more time and space when he received the ball and was usually in a 1v1 situation with Layun, with Kuyt making it even more difficult for Layun as he got forward. Robben was able to dribble past Layun with relative ease which allowed him to then create chances.

To counter Van Gaal’s changes, Herrera withdrew dos Santos, an odd move considering he looked lively and had scored Mexico’s goal and had been doing a fair amount of defensive work, which is is oft cited for not doing. Herrera replaced him with Javier Aquino and Mexico looked to be playing deeper with a 5-3-1-1, which allowed the Netherlands, and Robben, to continue to find space in the wide areas, rather than through the middle, which neither side had really been able to dominate at that point in the match.

Cooling Break Changes

The second cooling break came in the 75th minute with Mexico still ahead 1-0. Van Gaal took off Robin van Persie, who had a quiet game overall and even more so in the second half, and replaced him with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The three minute break also allowed him to make another formation change, moving Dirk Kuyt from his right back role into a forward role alongside Huntelaar. Robben continued to play on the right as well, while Wijnaldum dropped a little deeper so as to cover the right side of the Netherland’s defense when Mexico came forward.

The change certainly put more pressure on the Mexican back line and Kuyt won the corner that resulted in the goal, but it’s hard to say whether the Netherlands would have gotten the equaliser regardless of the change, considering it came off a set piece.

Immediately after the goal, Kuyt dropped back into his right back to give the Netherlands their 4-2-1-¾-2-3-1 shape back. In the end, it was again Robben’s individual ability in a right space and in a 1v1 that allowed him to win the penalty that saw Huntelaar net the winner.

Conclusion

There was little to separate the two sides in the opening half, but Van Gaal’s changes saw the Netherlands begin to open up Mexico more and more. The first change allowed the Netherlands to push Mexico deep against their penalty area and the brief second change, following the cooling break, was really just moving a defender up the field. Usually we see this very late on in games and it usually a centre back that moved into a centre forward position as a target man, but Van Gaal had the luxury of having played a forward, in Kuyt, at the back for most of the night and was able to move him up.

Herrera should be most to blame for Mexico’s defeat here. He was unable to control the match, counter Van Gaal’s changed effectively, and defend a 1-0 lead. This is the sixth World Cup in a row that Mexico exit the tournament in the round of 16.