NETHERLANDS, URUGUAY SET FOR WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL BATTLE

In the first of two World Cup semifinal matches for Tuesday surprising Uruguay will try and turn back the formidable challenge of Netherlands.  The Dutch team shocked tournament favorite Brazil with two second half goals to advance to the semifinals by a 2-1 score, while Uruguay outlasted Ghana on penalty kicks.  For Uruguay, it’s their first trip to the semifinals in forty years while Holland reached the championship game in 1974 and 1978, losing both times.

Netherlands was very highly regarded coming into the World Cup, and installed as the 5th favorite to win the tournament behind Spain, Brazil, England and Argentina.  The team is informally called the Oranje (‘orange’) and not surprisingly this motif makes its way into the team colors, jerseys, etc.  The nickname is a reference to William of Orange, who became the first king of the re-unified Netherlands in 1813.  The ‘orange’ conceit also lends itself to some clever nicknames, including ‘The Clockwork Orange’—a homage to the classic Stanley Kubrick film as well as the team’s famously precise and potent offense.
   
It was the offensive strength of the Dutch that impressed soccer pundits before the tournament, but there were questions about the ability of the defense to do their part.  As it has turned out, Netherlands' defense has been very good to this stage and has picked up the slack for an offense that wasn’t as potent as anticipated during group play.  Netherlands may have the best offense of any team in South Africa this summer, with Wesley Sneijder orchestrating and a deep and versatile group of scorers led by Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt and Arsenal’s Robin van Persie among others.  

Uruguay doesn’t have the weapons up front to match up with Netherlands, but they made it to this point by playing very tough defense.  The team didn’t allow a goal in the group stage, and will need to be especially tenacious on the defense end against the Dutch attack.  Uruguay will be without a couple of very valuable players for the semifinal matchup, most significantly Luis Suarez.  Suarez is their best offensive player, but is suspended for this game after his game saving handball at the end of added time against Ghana.  Suarez was shown a red card for his effort, but since Ghana failed to score on the penalty kick it literally kept his team in the tournament.  Defensive specialist Jorge Fucile received his second yellow card against Ghana and is also suspended for this game.

Netherlands is favored in this matchup for good reason and although Uruguay will certainly come to play its difficult to see them either stopping the high powered Dutch offense or, more problematically, being able to match them goal for goal.  We look for Holland to advance to the World Cup final with a victory inside regulation time, though we expect a low scoring game with only one or two goals.