Netherlands vs Argentina Live Score FIFA World Cup 2022: NED score late to cut ARG’s lead, trail 1-2 with minutes to go

Pezzella with a clumsy challenge just left of centre right on the edge of the D. Noppert is down on his haunches. The 10 minutes are up, this could very well be the last kick of the game. Lionel Messi has been shown the yellow card possibly for running his mouth too much. 

Argentina are holding on for their dear lives. Netherlands looking more dangerous than they ever did. If only they had decided to just lump long balls into the box earlier in the match. Doesn’t matter now, this has become a deliciously dramatic finish. The likes of Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti can be seen in their suits and blazers singing their hearts out with the rest of the Argentine box from their box. 

It is far from over and to start off this bumper added time, Berghuis lets a free kick from 22 yards smash into the top of the wall to start it off. This is going to feel like 10 hours for Argentina.

The players decide to lay off each other, maybe because this is a World Cup knockout game or something. Paredes gets away with a yellow card where he really, really should have seen red. The referee has been a little strange today. He was flashing yellow cards everywhere in the first half and shows no red for a blatant provocation such as this. 

88 mins: Paredes smashes into a Ake two-footed near the touchline and then smashes the ball into the Netherlands dug out. They all come rushing out to have a polite word or two with Paredes, the Argentines come in to keep their teammate safe and it is now a churning human potpourri in that area. 

86 mins: With De Jong and Weghorst in front, the Dutch have decided to ditch all that pragmatic passing and there are balls flying into the box like cannon fire. Weghorst had headed in from just outside the six yard box off a vicious cross from the right. 

83 mins: Well one of those two battering rams has scored within seconds of coming on. Wout Weghorst with an absolutely brilliant header to cut Argentina’s lead in half. Now then…

78 mins: Double substitution for Argentina German Pezzella and Nicolas Tagliafico replace Cristian Romero and Marcos Acuna. The Netherlands bring on Wout Weghorst for Memphis Depay. So they now had two battering rams in front in Weghorst and De Jong. Wonder if they will now start sending balls into the box and try to actually score. 

A row between Emiliano Martinez and Luuk De Jong and then the game is stopped by a pitch invasion. All of that puts a break on the proceedings, which really wasn’t going anywhere because the Netherlands had taken back to passing the ball around with utterly no end product. They have been shockingly dismal in this match. 

73 mins: As calm a penalty kick as they come. Messi draws level with Gabriel Batistuta’s record of 10 World Cup goals for Argentina. Just clips it to Noppert’s right the Dutch goalkeeper was rooted to the spot.  

One can expect a VAR check of course but for now, the ref has pointed to the spot. Acuna goes down, seemingly tripped by Dumfries at the edge of the box near the byline on the left. There is no VAR check and Messi stands over the ball. Breath in…

66 mins: Argentina take off Rodrigo de Paul, who has run a lot and been quite tireless in the midfield but hasn’t had too great a game going forward. Leandro Paredes comes on to replace him. Meanwhile, the Netherlands have also taken off defender Daley Blind for striker Luuk de Jong. 

63 mins: Free kick for Argentina just left of centre after Messi is pushed down by Van Dijk. The Argentina captain takes it and the ball fizzes just over the bar on the right. 

De Paul overhits an attempted through ball to Messi, who is on the ball quite a lot more than he was in the first half. Other than that, nothing too exciting. 

Argentina get the ball rolling. Wonder if we will have more movement in this second half considering one of these two sides are going to be out after this. Van Gaal has brought on Steven Berghuis and Teun Koopmeiners for Steven Bergwijn and Marten de Roon.

Not the greatest of first halves but who cares when Messi does his thing, eh? Nahuel Molina scored what will probably remain the most special goal of is career. Apart from that little moment, it has been a half in which most of the players seem to have walked more than run.  

Not too many chances or stoppages in this half really and so it will just be five minutes of injury time. The ref has shown yellow cards to Julian Alvarez and Wout Weghorst, the latter being on the bench. That is five yellow cards shown already, two of those to those on the bench. The referee just telling everyone to not be too naughty, he has cards for everyone. 

43 mins: Acuna has a kick at Dumfries’ ankle and the latter goes down in a heap. Acuna follows the ball and Timber comes accross and pushes his him hands on chest to the ground, seemingly as a tit-for-tat. Timber and Acuna get yellow cards for all that nonsense and the latter will miss the semi-final if Argentina go through. 

40 mins: Messi receives the ball on the left just inside the box, surrounded by about three Dutch shirts, Nathan Ake behind him being the man giving him the most grief. He fakes a movement to the outside before dipping his shoulder and turning the other way and taking a shot all in one swift movement. That was low but straight at Noppert. 

35 mins: Nabuel Molina’s goal with love from Lionel Messi. The maestro with a pass that slices the Dutch defence on the left and puts it on a platter for Molina, he buries it for his first-ever international goal. That goal has come out of nowhere but then Messi does dig goals out of nowhere, either by scoring them himself or providing them for others. Messi collects the ball on the right, threads his way inside and then suddenly reverses a glorious through ball for Molina that seemed to have catched out even the Dutch player that was following the Argentinian captain. 

Argentina with a lot of possession now and now both sets of players seem to have given Messi competition for walking stats. The only excitement of the last five minutes comes towards the end of the 30th minute when the Argentinian manager Lionel Scaloni gets shown a yellow card for making a real nuisance of himself at that touchline. 

And now two Argentinians get in each other’s way. Alvarez tries to loan the ball to Acuna and move forward on the left, probably expecting his teammate to lay it off for him and get out of the way. Acuna not quite on the same wavelength and the two run into each other. It is just a mutual nudge though, more clumsy than dangerous. 

23 mins: It does look like Bergwijn and Depay kind of got in each other’s way here. The shot comes from the latter from the edge of the box just left of centre and fizzes wide. First nip for the Netherlands. 

21 mins: Goes over the bar! And quite a few metres above it as well. The first real shy he has had at the goal today. That shot came after a long period in which the Netherlands sucked the life out of the game. And after that shot, the Netherlands continue doing the same. It hasn’t been the e most thrilling of 20 minutes of football. 

Netherlands have had more of the ball in these last 15 mins, and that means that there hasn’t been much happening. The Dutch have been as pragmatic as ever but unable to thread too many passes together in the Argentine final third. 

 Can’t really say if either side has truly pulled away from the other but Argentina have looked more likely to score. Dutch goalkeeper Andries Noppert gave everyone a little scare by playing a risky pass that went just past the extended leg of Julian Alvarez to a centre back. 

Argentina push forward but their attack fizzles out just at the edge of the box after they come up against an Orange wall. It might be that kind of a game for them today. 

Here we go then! Both teams in their iconic traditional colours. Argentina attacking from right to left. The Argentine national anthem was absolutely thundered out by the majority of the fans who are wearing Argentina’s colours. 

Here they are! Virgil Van Dijk leads out the Dutch, Lionel Messi leads out the Argentines. Netherlands national anthem comes first, then Argentina’s. Go on. Feel it in the air. 

Lionel Messi gave #2013vibes with how he was prancing circles around the Australian defence. He first scored his first World Cup knockout goal and went past Maradona’s tally in this tournament. He could have then assisted at least one more, had it not been for Lisandro Martinez’s misfiring feet, and almost scored another in the last 10 minutes. But Netherlands are no Australia, let’s see how the maestro handles with this. 

Louis Van Gaal had revealed in Aprl that he had received 25 radiation treatments for an aggressive form of prostate cancer and he kept the diagnosis from his players during their World Cup qualifying campaign. Defender Daley Blind said the 71-year-old’s illness, and how he handled the situation, is on the players’ minds in Qatar. “Of course it is in the back of our heads,” the Ajax defender said. “From the first moment we didn’t know about it. He did everything he could to keep it from us. He was even going to the hospital during the nights, so as not to show the team what he was going through.

So, Angel di Maria started it off by saying that Louis Van Gaal was the ‘worst manager’ of his career. Van Gaal replied by saying that Memphis Depay, who was sitting with his default player’s face for press conferences beside him, also had to deal with him at Man United and now they ‘kiss each other on the mouth’, leading to Depay’s statue face to break. And then, came the little joust with the media over tactics. “I get the same question from you every time but you don’t understand that football is evolving,” he said in a tone of exasperation. “At this World Cup we see that the results are very tight, even between big teams and supposedly smaller countries, because compact defending is simply easier than attacking. But it’s not true if it seems we are only defending. I hope that is clear now.”

Can you smell it?

A little team called Brazil ARE OUT OF THE WORLD CUP!!!!!! Well Croatia have done a real number on the five-time champions. Brazil’s World Cup campaign seemed to have come alive in a burst of splendid colours when Neymar scored a truly lovely goal in the first half of extra time. But then Croatia scored the equaliser through Bruno Petkovic. Then, Croatia did their thing in the penalties and BRAZIL HAVE BEEN KNOCKED OUT. Argentina are now the only South American team left in the tournament. Talk about seismic results. 

Noppert; Timber, Van Dijk, Ake; Dumfries, De Roon, De Jong, Blind; Gakpo; Depay, Bergwijn.

E Martinez; Romero, Otamendi, Lisandro Martinez; Molina, De Paul, Fernandez, Mac Allister, Acuna; Messi, Alvarez.

There has been a bit of a war of words between the two camps already, chiefly between Louis Van Gaal and Angel di Maria. There was also some sparring between Van Gaal and the media in the press conference over his tactics. Well, Croatia have proven that the only thing that matters, is winning, when they did a number over Brazil.