Dutch shock Brazil to make semis
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The Netherlands eliminated 10-man Brazil 2-1 in a hot-tempered clash of titans to advance into the World Cup semifinals on Saturday.
The Brazilians controlled the first half in which Robinho opened scoring for the five-time champions at the 10th minute, but they became edgier after Felipe Melo's own goal and were totally lost after Wesley Sneijder's late goal.
Dunga's side started aggressively with Bert van Marwijk's team seemingly overwhelmed.
Two minutes after Robinho's goal was annulled for offside, Felipe Melo delivered from halfway line a simple pass to unmarked Robinho, who took the ball to the edge of the penalty area and slotted past Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg.
Arjen Robben, who was the nearest Dutch "defender" to Robinho, seemed dazed when the Santos striker swept past him and scored Brazil's opening goal.
The Netherlands fought back as Mark van Bommel set up Dirk Kuyt down their left and his shot was saved at the near post by Julio Cesar.
Brazil wasted a chance to go two up at the 25th minute when the Netherlands failed to clear a corner and Dani Alves took the possession and sent a cross to Juan, who blazed over the bar from several meters away.
The Brazilians gave the Dutch keeper one more scare at the 32nd minute as Robinho jinked between two defenders and passed the ball to Luis Fabiano, who flicked it to Kaka. The Real Madrid midfielder curled a shot to an upper corner of the net, which was saved by Stekelenburg.
At the stroke of halftime, Maicon forced a fully stretched save from Stekelenburg.
The Dutch were back to the same footing with Brazil thanks to Melo's own goal at the 53rd minute.
Sneijder swung a left-footed cross from the Dutch right and Julio Cesar, arguably the best keeper in the world, couldn't have a hand on it and the ball clipped the top of Melo's head before flying into the net.
At the 65th minute, Brazilian midfielder Kaka cashed in on a poor clearance by Andre Ooijer and side-footed narrowly wide from 15 meters.
Three minutes later, the Dutch jumped ahead as a near-post corner from Robben was flicked on by Kuyt and Sneijder knocked an unmarked header in from close range.
Brazil were reduced to 10 men in the 75th minute after Melo stamped on Robben who was already on the ground. Japanese Referee Yuichi Nishimura showed the Juventus midfielder a straight red card.
Like in Germany four years ago, Brazil, unbeaten since last October, saw their dream of a sixth world crown dashed at the quarter-finals.
For the Dutch this was their fifth straight win at the South Africa finals and they have one more victory to go before a first grand finale appearance since they finished runners-up twice in the 1970s.
Bert van Marwijk's men will travel to Cape Town for Tuesday's semifinal against Uruguay or Ghana.
History is on the Dutch side as the winners over Brazil in the past three World Cups made it to the final.
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