Argentina beat the Netherlands on penalties after thrilling match to reach semi-final
23:00 CET: Well, where to begin! What a contest. The Dutch really struggled to impose themselves on the match for a long time and, at 2-0 down, it looked like it was going to. be over in regular time.
Thanks to some inspired substitutions, the Dutch clawed their way back into the match and took it to extra time. Tensions were running high in the latter stages of play and the players collided on more than one occasion.
As it turned out, it had to be decided by a penalty shootout and Argentina proved too good. They will meet Croatia in the semi-finals and the Netherlands must say goodbye to the tournament.
Read the full match report here and have a look at the match stats here.
Penalties
10:56 CET: Lautaro Martinez can win it if he scores. He scores it and Argentina win.
10:56 CET: Luuk De Jong calmly scores. It's now 3-3.
10:55 CET: Enzo Fernandez can win it if he scores now. But he misses! He's pulled it wide. Still 3-2.
10:54 CET: Weghorst steps up and scores. The Dutch are still in it. 3-2
10:53 CET: Montiel scores a third for Argentina. 3-1
10:53 CET: Koopmeiners scored for the Netherlands. 2-1
10:52 CET: Paredes smashes Argentina's second into the net. 2-0 ARG
10:51 CET: Berghuis misses. Incredible save by Martinez! 1-0 ARG
10:49 CET: Messi steps up for Argentina and cooly puts it away. 1-0 Argentina.
10:48 CET: Van Dijk takes the first penalty for the Netherlands. And it's saved!
Extra Time
122': And this one is going to penalties as well.
121': Fernandez takes another pop from range and the ball rockets into the foot of the goal-post. One minute added on.
120': Messi tries one from distance but it is deflected out for a corner.
119': Now it's Lautaro Martinez firing one at Noppert in the Dutch goal. Final moments.
117': Pezzella powers a header over the bar. The Dutch are the ones living a charmed life now. It's been all Argentina for the past few minutes.
115': Now it's Argentina threatening. Fernandez takes a shot which is wickedly deflected and it balloons only just over the bar.
113': Cody Gakpo is taken off and is replaced by Noah Lang. Di Maria is on for Argentina, he replaced Lisandro Martinez.
112': Pezzella goes into the book as well. It's a surprise we haven't seen a red card in this match. Only a few minutes to go. Will we see a winner?
110': Montiel is booked and he will miss the semi-final if Argentina go through.
109': And we are back for the last 15 minutes here. Will there be a goal or will be heading the penalties?
Argentina have made a change. Gonzalo Montiel is on for the first golascorer Nahuel Molina.
106': Half time in extra time.
12': The referee has been quite liberal with his cards in the match aside from during the two spells of pushing and shoving. It would be no surprise to see a red as there are now quite a few players on yellows.
101': Timber is a little lucky there. He blocked Messi clumsily and he's already on a booking. Seen those given this match. But he gets away with just a foul.
96': After a completely frantic end to the second half, the pace has slowed down somewhat. We've seen that in other matches that entered ET, too. The teams go back to a cautious, nervous style.
95': So, it was all a bit chaotic at the end of the second half. The teams erupted into another heated confrontation and both Otamendi and the already substituted Bergwijn were booked.
91': Extra time is underway here.
Second Half
102': That's full-time. We are going to have extra time!
101': GOOOOAAAAALLLLL! OH MY GOD! I can't quite believe it. The free kick was a moment of magic. Genius. Koopmeiners has rolled it to Weghorst instead of shooting and the big man turned his marker and placed it in the corner. Quite an incredible turnaround.
101': Messi is booked.
100': Netherlands free kick in range. Can they do it?
96': It's funny how a situation that looked hopeless for the Netherlands has turned into a pressure situation for Argentina as the Dutch throw men and the ball forward in search of a vital leveller.
94': It's all Netherlands now as they hunt for a goal to send this to extra time. Argentina are happy to sit deep and hang on.
94': Van Dijk is also booked. That's now nine yellow cards.
91': 10 minutes added on in this half. Is there another twist in this tale? It feels like there could be!
90': Paredes is booked for the tackle that started the ruckus. He's lucky to still be on the pitch. He should have been booked for the reaction as well as the tackle.
89': Feisty scenes here. Paredes boots the ball into the Dutch dugout and the players erupt off the bench.
88': Berghuis is given a yellow card for a block on Messi. That's a soft yellow.
85': Oh my! The Netherlands have almost scored another. The shot is smashed at the goal but it flies just wide. Do they have another one in them?
83': GOAL! The Netherlands are back in it! The ball is whipped in by the substitute Berghuis and glanced home by the other substitute Weghorst. Can they do it??
81': Alvarez makes way for Argentina. He is replaced by Lautaro Martinez.
78': A few changes here. Weghorst is on for Depay for the Netherlands. For Argentina, Acuna and Romero are both off, replaced by Pezzella and Tagliafico.
78': Lisandro Martinez is booked for Argentina.
77': Now or never for the Netherlands. They need to find a way back into this match.
73': GOAL! Messi converts the penalty and that should be the game.
71': PENALTY! Dumfries has caught Acuna in the box and it's a penalty for Argentina.
70': Time is running out here and it's hard to see where the Netherlands might find a goal. They have managed just one shot (off target) the whole match.
66': Argentina make a change, too. De Paul goes off for Paredes.
65': Interesting change by the Netherlands. Luuk De Jong comes on for Daley Blind. That is not a like-for-like replacement and it looks like the Dutch will change to a back four. They know they need to go for it now. Not long left.
63': Messi whips the subsequent free kick just over the bar. That was close!
62': Van Dijk pushes Messi to the ground as the little maestro accelerates away from him. You feel, that moment was emblematic of this match so far - the Netherlands just can't match them.
56': Well the Dutch haven't created a chance yet this half but they have dominated the ball and they are moving it around a bit quicker. Is that enough though?
50': Van Gaal will be hoping that the changes will bring them some fortune. Interestingly, he's taken off one attacker, in Bergwijn, and a midfielder (De Roon) and brought two midfielders on (Berghuis and Koopmeiners). Perhaps he feels they need to dominate the midfield battle a bit more this half.
46': Argentina kick the second half off. The Netherlands have made two changes as they look to get back into this match.
Bergwijn and De Roon are both off. Koopmeiners and Berghuis are on.
First Half
21:04 CET: Looking at Argentina's average positions, you can see that the general shape - especially the back three and wing backs are quite similar to the Dutch. But there's a key difference in the way that Messi and De Paul have bunched up together to overload the right.
20:59 CET: Below is an interesting illustration of the Netherlands' average positions in the first half. As you can see, their wing backs have been so high and wide, especially Denzel Dumfries on the right-hand side. Both Dumfries and their other wing back Blind scored against the USA in the round of 16.
If the Dutch are to create anything in the second half, their wing play could be crucial to stretching the Argentine backline in an attempt to create some space for their attacking trio.
20:53 CET: Well, that's halftime in this quarter-final. It was a very tight and cagey opening 25/30 minutes with neither team creating much and then Argentina broke the match open with Molina's goal in the 35th minute.
As you can see by the stats below, the possession has been split almost 50/50. And while the Dutch have looked composed on the ball, they have managed just one shot, compared to Argentina's five. It's a deserved lead for the South Americans.
Will the Netherlands change something as they seek out an equaliser? Stay tuned for the second half.
51': That's halftime.
47': Another booking off the pitch. This time one of the subs for the Netherlands is booked - Weghorst. Quite a few cautions already here - it could get spicy.
46': There will be five minutes of added time in this half.
45': Romero goes into the book as well for Argentina for a quite bizarre handball.
43': Two yellow cards here. Acuna (ARG) is booked for a really nasty stamp on Dumfries and Timber (NED) is also booked for shoving him.
40': Messi wriggles away from Ake in the box and gets a shot away but it isn't struck with any anger. It's now five shots for Argentina to the Netherlands' one.
38': Well, we've got the first goal now. I wonder if that will spark the Dutch into a little more endeavour. They've been very quiet going forward but now they need to respond.
34': GOAL! Molina is played into the box by Messi with an incredible eye-of-the-needle blind pass. How did he see that pass? Well, he's Messi. That's how. Well finished by the right back Molina, too. Messi spotted his run out of the corner of his eye and found him expertly but Molina still had to finish the job.
33': Messi tees up De Paul nicely on the edge of the box but his side-footed shot is pretty weak. Both defences are proving hard to breach.
31': First yellow card of the night but it isn't for a player. One of the Argentine coaching staff has been booked for remonstrating.
24': Bergwijn gets a chance to shoot for the Netherlands but he shanks the shot horribly. Very few opportunities so far in this match, as expected. It's going to be a matter of which team has the quality to take the rare chances they get.
22': First chance of the match for Messi, call it a half-chance. He skips past a couple defenders and shoots from range but it's high and way.
18': We noted earlier that the Netherlands have made one change to their side today, bringing Steven Bergwijn in. And for the first time in the tournament, they have started all three of Bergwijn, Depay and Gakpo. It looks like Gakpo is the central one of the three.
17': Very circumspect start by both teams as they feel each other's systems out and ease into this huge contest. Still just the one shot so far.
14': Romero flies in for the ball and could have been booked but it's his lucky day, for now.
5': De Paul gets the first shot of the match away for Argentina but it flies into one of his own players and out of play.
Cagey start as expected. It really cannot be understated just how many Argentine supporters there are there tonight - if the Dutch do surprise them, they'll be very unpopular in the stadium indeed.
1': The Netherlands kick off.
Pre Match
19:57 CET: By the looks of the crowd, it's almost a home match for Argentina. So many fans to cheer Messi and co. on. Can the Dutch ruin their party? Interestingly, the teams are set up to match up man-to-man. It could make the game quite cagey. Here's hoping for an early goal to open it up quickly.
19:55 CET: The teams are out for the anthems, the Dutch in their orange attire, and Argentina in their similarly iconic blue and white stripes.
The referee for the match is A. Lahoz of Spain.
19:53 CET: Welcome to our live updates for the quarter-final between the Netherlands and Argentina at the Lusail Iconic Stadium. We know that the winner of tonight's match will meet Croatia in the semi-finals after their dramatic penalty shootout victory over Brazil. Could it be another extra-time affair in this one? It will certainly be close.
Team News
Both sides have made changes from their round of 16 lineups for the quarter-final.
The Dutch have made one change from the side that beat USA. Davy Klaasen drops to the bench in place of Steven Bergwijn. Louis van Gaal has thus opted to bring in an extra attacking player to exploit Argentina's defence.
Argentina have also made a single change and, it seems, are aiming to match the Netherlands' system by reverting to a back three. Papu Gomez has dropped out of the lineup in place of centre back Lisandro Martinez.
Netherlands: Andries Noppert, Nathan Ake, Virgil van Dijk, Jurrien Timber, Daley Blind, Frenkie de Jong, Marten de Roon, Denzel Dumfries, Cody Gakpo, Memphis Depay, Steven Bergwijn
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Lisandro Martinez, Nahuel Molina, Rodrigo de Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister, Marcos Acuna, Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez
Introduction
Both the Netherlands and Argentina have had similar tournaments in that they took a few games to click into gear and get close to their potential.
For Argentina, their World Cup story has been shaped by their terrible start - their shock loss to Saudi Arabia. And since then coach Lionel Scaloni has tinkered with the team trying to find the right balance and the right framework in which star Lionel Messi (35) can thrive. They look close to having found that balance but their struggles in breaking down a limited Australian side in the round of 16 proved they haven’t hit full form just yet.
For the Dutch, they had a successful group stage results-wise but failed to convince fans and experts alike with their functional style. Their round of 16 win over the USA was the best display they have produced so far and that bodes well for them in that they’ve also grown into themselves throughout the tournament. Their defence and organisation are their strong points but Cody Gapko (23) and Memphis Depay (28) provide two interesting and dangerous attacking outlets for them.
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