It should be an absorbing semi-final tonight.
Holland should dominate possession.
Uruguay might defend deep, pass backwards and sideways a lot, and play on the break by hitting diagonals to Diego Forlan spinning into wide positions. But without the suspended Suarez, who knows Dutch football, can Forlan threaten keeper Maarten Stekelenburg often enough? I have my doubts.
Coach Oscar Tabarez is a canny character who didn\’t play any friendlies He got his boys together, rested them up, did a bit of training, and flew to South Africa.
On opening day, June 11, Uruguay looked quite useful in a 0-0 against France, when everyone talked about how useless France were.
Ten days later we were all saying : It\’s a South American World Cup. Then Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay got knocked out.
In Holland\’s 2-1 victory over Brazil, Robin van Persie was Holland\’s worst player by some distance.
That\’s why coach Bert van Marwijk said what he said yesterday. Bert said, “Robin is extremely talented and I would think one of the best football players on this planet.”
Main man Wesley Sneijder is efficient and brainy. He supplies end product : killer passes, deadly crosses, scoring shots, accurate corners and free-kicks.
An engineer’s son from Utrecht, Sneijder is an amazing technician who scored 44 goals for Ajax in five years. The first thing I noticed was that he could hit rocket shots with either foot from 25 yards.
Arjen Robben is a wizard you know all about.
Set-pieces will be important tonight, as will the referee.
Uzbekistan ref Ravshan Irmatov, 32, did the opening game, South Africa v Mexico, and the Germany v Argentina quarter-final. He tolerates dissent a bit too much and the Dutch will take advantage of that.
Irmatov became a referee at 19 after suffering a serious ankle injury. His father was a ref in the old Soviet Championship.
Let\’s hope Holland-Uruguay is an absorbing contest, not a walkover. May the best team win.