The Netherlands survives scare from Mexico, Costa Rica advances
CHICAGO -- On the second day of the knockout stage, the favored Dutch faced an inspired side from Mexico and this game was not without controversy.
Mexico took a surprising 1-0 lead in the 48th minute when Giovani Dos Santos, a 25-year-old forward from Monterrey, Mexico, put the ball in the back of the Netherlands net. And that score held up until the 88th minute when Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder scored, breaking the hearts of the multitude of Mexican fans in the stadium and back home. And in extra time, six minutes to be exact, Holland won the game. Arjen Robben was fouled by Rafael Marquez in a controversial penalty and when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored, The Netherlands won 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.
They will play Costa Rica, winners of Group C, who beat Greece in a shootout. In the 52nd minute, Bryan Ruiz took a crossing pass and drilled the ball into the right corner of the net past a stunned Greek goalkeeper, Orestis Karnezis. The Costa Ricans had to play with 10 men from the 66th minute on because of a red card to Oscar Duarte. And they were doing well until the 91st minute. That's when Sokratis Papastathopoulos picked up a rebound and bounced it past Keylor Navas and the game was tied at 1-all and on to overtime. In the extra session, no one scored so they went to a penalty kick shootout. In that shootout, Keylor Navas made the crucial save on Theo Gekas on the fourth kick. That left it to Michael Umana to win it and he did. Costa Rica wins the shootout 5-3 and advance to the quarterfinals July 5 against the Dutch.
Monday in day three of the knockout stage, there will be two 3 p.m. Chicago time games. France faces Nigeria while Germany will meet Algeria. I like Nigeria in an upset and the Germans to break through to the quarterfinals.
