14 Billion for 4th place
Brazil's traumatic World Cup ended with more pain on Saturday as they lost 3-0 to a superior Netherlands side in the third-place play-off at the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia.- Blind injured himself making the challenge, and his replacement Daryl Janmaat was the provider for the third goal, his low ball from the right being swept home by Wijnaldum.
- When Oscar went down in the box following a Blind challenge midway through the second period, the official booked the little midfielder for diving rather than point to the spot, summing up a desperate end to the tournament for the hosts.
- They had little sympathy from the referee as they chased the game, however.
- Kaushal Silva en route to his half-century (Photo: AFP)
- While Jo, starting in attack instead of the much-maligned Fred, toiled against van Gaal's well-drilled three-man central defence, Jasper Cillessen saved comfortably from Oscar, the most enterprising Brazilian on the field.
- Netherlands' Arjen Robben, center, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's fifth goal during the second half of the group B World Cup soccer match between Spain and the Netherlands at the Arena Ponte Nova in Salvador, Brazil (Photo:
- Once again Brazil's defensive frailties were hopelessly exposed when the Netherlands' second goal arrived in the 17th minute.De Guzman broke in behind Maxwell in the Brazilian left-back position and got to the byeline, from where his cross was
- Robben was pulled back by the defender, with the contact starting outside the box and carrying on into the area. Algerian referee Djamel Haimoudi decided to award a spot-kick but controversially opted against showing Silva a straight red card. If
- Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had made six changes to his team following the Germany debacle, with one seeing captain Thiago Silva make his return after suspension.The absence of Silva, along with that of Neymar, was a contributing factor in the
- In contrast, Louis van Gaal's Netherlands leave with the consolation of taking third place and end the competition unbeaten, with their semi-final exit against Argentina only coming after a penalty shoot-out.The day had not started well for Holland
- Brazil have now lost back-to-back home games for the first time since 1940, and they end the tournament having conceded 14 goals altogether, the most of any side at a World Cup since 1986 and the most ever for a host team.
- With injured star Neymar watching on from the bench, Daley Blind then capitalised on more calamitous defending to make it 2-0 with 17 minutes played, and Georginio Wijnaldum rubbed salt into the hosts' wounds by adding a third in injury time.
- Still struggling to digest their record-breaking 7-1 loss to Germany in the semi-finals, Brazil had a similarly disastrous start against the Dutch, with Robin van Persie opening the scoring from the penalty spot inside three minutes.
Brazil's traumatic World Cup ended with more pain on Saturday as they lost 3-0 to a superior Netherlands side in the third-place play-off at the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia.
14 Billion for 4th place
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