(MENAFN- Arab Times) Fortaleza brazil june 29 (agencies): the netherlands scored twice in the dying minutes through wesley sneijder and a klaas jan huntelaar penalty to move into the quarter-finals of the world cup with a 2-1 win over mexico on sunday. in a match conditioned by the baking heat and humidity in fortaleza giovani dos santos looked to have mexico on the way to their first quarter-final appearance on foreign soil when he opened the scoring three minutes into the second-half. however sneijder levelled with a thumping volley from the edge of the area two minutes from time before huntelaar converted from the spot in stoppage time after rafael marquez had upended arjen robben.
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louis van gaal's men will now face costa rica or greece in the last eight in salvador on saturda
the netherlands had been disrupted by an early injury to nigel de jong as he hobbled off to be replaced by bruno martins ind
mexico's hector herrera then had the clearest opening of the first 45 minutes as he collected oribe peralta's pass on the edge of the area and cut inside before dragging a right-foot shot inches wid
dutch keeper jasper cillessen was then forced into his first save of the afternoon by a long-range effort from carlos salcido.<
the netherlands didn't register an effort on target until the 26th minute when robin van persie skewed wide form a narrow angle after collecting stefan de vrij's pass inside the are
both sides were then handed the chance to cool off for three minutes at the half-hour mark for the first time at a world cup due to the searing temperature
cillessen then made a fine stop to prevent dos santos opening the scoring with a low effort. however the netherlands were left aggrieved just a minute before the break when robben appeared to have been clipped by hector moreno inside the are
mexico got off to a flying start in the second-half as dos santos held off a challenge from daley blind to thump home his first international goal in a competitive match for two years from 25 yard
oribe peralta nearly made it 2-0 eight minutes later with a curling effort that cillessen did well to claim at the first attempt.<
moments later it was guillermo ochoa who made an incredible stop to prevent stefan de vrij levelling as he turned the defender's volley onto the post from point-blank rang
sneijder then saw a deflected effort fly inches past as the netherlands went in search of an equalise
ochoa had to come to his side's rescue again 17 minutes from time when robben escaped the clutches of marquez but saw his low effort turned behind by the mexican stoppe
dutch boss louis van gaal then surprisingly replaced captain van persie with klaas jan huntelaa
however his decision was to prove inspired as firstly huntelaar turned robben's corner in the direction of the lurking sneijder to power home from the edge of the box o
and after robben was adjudged by portuguese referee pedro proenca to have been clipped by marquez in the fourth minute of stoppage time the schalke striker coolly stroked home the resulting penalty to eliminate mexico at the last 16 stage for a sixth consecutive world cu
last 8 qualifie
brazil colombia netherlands.<
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belo horizonte: after five misses in the world cup's first penalty shootout argentina wisely practised spot-kicks on sunday before flying to sao paulo for their last-16 clash with switzerlan
the south americans are heavily favoured to beat the swiss on tuesday but underdogs have been making a mark in brazil so coach alejandro sabella clearly aims to leave nothing to chanc
attackers lionel messi gonzalo higuain ezequiel lavezzi and angel di maria joined by midfielder javier mascherano and defender martin demichelis all practised penalties against goalkeeper sergio romero at their belo horizonte training cam
they were no doubt mindful of saturday's drama nearby when five players missed penalties during brazil's 3-2 shootout victory over chile after a 1-1 draw in normal and extra tim
argentina have been involved in four world cup penalty shootouts winning three against yugoslavia and italy in 1990 and england in 1998. they lost against germany in 200
the south americans are based at local club atletico mineiro's training camp just outside belo horizont
blue-and-white motivational banners have been set up around the spacious and heavily-guarded complex.<
'the dream is the path victory the destination' reads on
'twenty-three travel 40 million push for the final' readers anothe
argentina's only major problem for the game against switzerland is the absence of striker sergio aguero who has a muscle injury in his left le
'the manchester city forward continues rehabilitation' the team said in a statemen
lavezzi looks sure to take his place for the switzerland game though the argentine coaching staff are hoping aguero might be better for future matches should they progres
argentina are dreaming of a third world cup title which would be especially sweet if achieved on the soil of their great south american rivals brazi
they were due to fly to sao paulo in the evening.
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