Goals from Robin van Persie, Daley Blind and Giorginio Wijnaldum ensured the Netherlands finished third in this World Cup with a 3-0 win over Brazil.
Thiago Silva returned to the centre of defence after missing the embarrassment against Germany through suspension, but Fred, Bernard and Marcelo were benched in favour of Jo, Willian and Maxwell. Louis van Gaal meanwhile, made just one change from the XI that lost to Argentina on penalties, with Jordi Clasie replacing Nigel de Jong.
And it didn’t take long for the Selecao to feel some heartbreak again. Arjen Robben raced through on goal after only two minutes, went down under a challenge from Thiago Silva, and won his side a penalty. The captain was lucky to get away with a yellow card, but Van Persie netted high to Julio Cesar’s left to give the Oranje the lead.
In keeping with the devil may care attitude of this meaningless contest, the hosts came back out of the blocks and went at Van Gaal’s side. Oscar whipped in a nice ball from the left that wasn’t attacked, but the Samba Boys were pressing high up the pitch and generally harrying their opponents – something that was lacking from the semi-final.
Something that was still there from that game in Belo Horizonte though, was defensive frailty. And it came back to bite Brazil on 17 minutes. A cross from Jonathan de Guzman wasn’t cleared properly by David Luiz, and Blind was there inside the area to strike past the goalkeeper and double Holland’s lead.
Despite their industry, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men were offering very little in attack – the nearest they came from open play was an effort from outside the box by Oscar, whilst the Chelsea man caused a few nervy moments in the Dutch backline with a couple of decent free kicks from wide positions.
After the break, the Europeans were still in the ascendancy in terms of chances, even of their hosts were having the lion’s share of the ball. Robben was causing all sorts of problems when running at the defence, but was hacked down on more than one occasion in what was turning in to a feisty encounter.
Oscar had a penalty appeal turned down despite clear contact inside the area from Blind, but that really was all Brazil offered.
The Dutch though, had one more effort in them – a cross from Joel Veltman found Wijnaldum inside the six yard box, and with just second remaining, the midfielder crashed home to send Brazil out with a whimper.
Brazil 0-3 Netherlands
Scorers: Van Persie pen 3 (N), Blind 17 (N), Wijnaldum 90 (N)
Brazil: Julio Cesar, Thiago Silva (c), David Luiz, Paulinho (Hernanes 57), Oscar, Maxwell, Ramires (Hulk 73), Luis Gustavo (Fernandinho 45), Willian, Jo, Maicon
Netherlands: Cillessen (Vorm 90); Kuyt, De Vrij, Vlaar, Martins Indi, Blind (Janmaat 70) ; Clasie (Veltman 90), Wijnaldum, De Guzman ; Van Persie, Robben.
