Match date: 9 July 2014

The Netherlands started the tournament on a high, beating Spain 5-1 in the opening match of the group stage. Ever since then, their performances have seemingly gone down with each passing game, despite praise being put on Louis van Gaal for his tactics. They struggled to break Costa Rica in the quarterfinals, looking uncomfortable when they had to be proactive with the ball rather than defend and break on counter attacks. For the match against Argentina, van Gaal brought Nigel de Jong back into the side over Memphis Depay, changing the side from a 3-4-3 to a 3-4-1-2.

Argentina have arguably gotten better as the tournament has gone on. They had a relatively easy group stage in which they won all of their matches and then played Switzerland and in the quarterfinals, beat Belgium 1-0 thanks to an early goal by Higuain, which allowed them to sit back and make Belgium try to break them down. Sabella was without a fully fit Angel Di Maria, so Perez started in central midfield, in a 4-3-¾-2-3-1.

Mid-Blocks, Passing Patterns

For most of the match, both sides defended in a mid block, which made it difficult for either side’s midfield to get involved to any real extent or have much of an influence on the match. It was no surprise that the top five passers of the ball were all defenders, with the exception of Javier Mascherano. However, while he was the holding midfielder for Argentina, he spent most of his time in between Demichelis and Garay. Whether or not this was a tactical decision made by Sabella prior to the match or whether Mascherano saw a tight midfield, with the Netherlands man-marking, thus making it necessary for him to drop is not as important as the dication of Argentina’s play from that move. He got on the ball often and was able to play some decent direct passes forward, focusing mainly on the gap left by Blind’s forward runs, but overall, he was mostly unable to get the ball to Biglia, Perez, or Messi, who dropped into midfield on occasion, because the Netherlands had numbers behind the ball quickly, man-marked in midfield, and had Robben and van Persie looking to cut off the passing lanes into midfield. Below, you can see Mascherano’s passes played as well as where he received the ball from his teammates.

With Mascherano between the centre backs, it made Argentina’s play very slow and laboured, although they created more chances than Netherlands in the whole of the match. Like Brazil in the other semi-final match, a lot of their play was within their defensive third and the Netherlands made it hard for them to make it out. Of course credit to Netherlands for their organisation in midfield. Van Gaal had de Jong to mark Messi and then Sneijder and Wijnaldum would pick up Biglia and Perez. The Dutch side stayed relatively compact and made most of their tackles inside their own half.

Unlike Brazil, however, they lacked a player that could produce the best side of David Luiz by dribbling into midfield from the back and cause another midfielder to become free after engaging a defender. The Netherland’s lacked this problem as well and while they had three at the back who were relatively free to distribute, much like Mascherano was, they were unable to really play many passes into Robben. Mascherano was able to get the ball into Messi and Lavezzi in the flanks, but Vlaar and Stefan de Vrij, the two top passers for the Netherlands made little impact for the Dutch going forward.

Argentina Attack Down the Right

The biggest point of attack for Argentina was down their right, against Blind and Martins Indi. The former found himself trying to get up the field as much as possible to provide width for the Netherlands down the left, but it left Martins Indi exposed against Perez, Lavezzi, and Messi, who drifted over to find space away from de Jong and because he recognised the open space. Early on it was clear that there was a problem for the Netherlands on that side, and at half time, Martins Indi was subbed off.

With three players with good dribbling ability, it made it even harder for Martins Indi, who isn’t particularly good on the turn and was caught marking too tight on players throughout the tournament. Even against Spain, in which the Netherlands won comfortably, he was guilty of getting in far too tight. Above, you can see that most of Messi’s joy came on the right, even after de Jong was replaced. It was the only space that Argentina were able to find space, especially with the midfield so congested. The best chances for Higuain came from balls in from the right side, but one was blocked by a good header from Janmaat, a half time substitute from van Gaal, and the other was hit into the side netting.

Changes

Argentina grew more and more tired as the match went on, but in the 81st minute, Sabella showed his intentions by bringing on both Rodrigo Palacio and Sergio Aguero for Perez and Higuain. While it gave Argentina more pace up front, they still lacked the ability to connect from the defensive third to the middle third, making it hard for opportunities to arise. Palacio may have had the best opportunity of the match when he got in behind the Netherlands defense, but lacked composure and instead of letting the ball drop a bit, sent a tame header into the hands of Cillessen.

Van Gaal, on the other hand, was unable to make as influential of changes as Sabella had. The Netherlands’ manager had to sub off Martins Indi at half time because he had a yellow card and was overly exposed in the first half. He had to take of Nigel de Jong, who was not fully fit, bringing on Clasie, who had a good appearance overall, and then had to take off van Persie due to fitness. With the game inching towards penalties, it also meant that Tim Krul wasn’t going to be brought on to make the saves he had against Costa Rica in the shootout.

Conclusion

The game was very slow, and rather disappointing considering the other semi-final match. Neither side wanted to take a chance at becoming exposed, and so it was a tight affair, perhaps because of the 7-1 the day before. Though Argentina made it through to the final, it never would have gotten there if it hadn’t been for Mascherano. The former captain made a brilliant sliding tackle on Robben just as the clock hit the 90th minute. He put in an exceptional performance overall and, along with Ron Vlaar, was the best player on the field.

It is always hard to lose in penalties and it makes it even harder for the winner to have played 120 minutes of tight, mentally exhausting football with a final in a few days. Argentina and Sabella will have to continue their concentration against Germany and will have to look to get Messi much more involved by getting the ball into midfield, which may be a little easier with Germany surely looking to press and attack with much more meaning than the Netherlands had.

The Netherlands face a demoralised Brazilian side in the 3rd place match the day before the final and will certainly be much more open in their play, with little pressure on them.