Argentina sealed their place in the World Cup final on Wednesday night, beating Netherlands 4-2 on penalties thanks to Sergio Romero's superb saves, after neither side could find a goal in normal time. Off the back of last night's eight-goal thriller, Argentina and Netherlands saw 120 minutes without a goal in a game in which neither could carve any clear cut chances, and had to try their luck from the spot and it was Maxi Rodriguez who sealed Argentina's trip to the Maracanã, their first final in 24 years.
The game started tamely, with the Argentines dominating possession but the Dutch defending solidly in their 3-4-3 (5-3-2) formation. Both sides were looking to settle, often guilty of a number of misplaced passes in the first 5-10 minutes.
After a tight start, Ezequiel Lavezzi won a costless-kick on the far left, gifting La Albiceleste the first real opportunity to cause Netherlands some problems. It was Lavezzi who whipped in an in swinging corner towards Martin Demichelis, but Dutch captain Robin Van Persie was there to powerfully head clear.
Javier Mascherano brilliantly dispossessed Arjen Robben down the flank with a perfectly-timed slide tackle, but his clearance was wayward and fell straight into Wesley Sneijder's path, but his 25-yard half-volley swerved away from goal. Moments later, Enzo Perez earned his side a costless-kick which was perfect range for Lionel Messi. Argentina's talisman stepped up to the 20-yard set-piece, and he drilled it to the left hand-side of the wall with pace, but it was at a comfortable height for Jasper Cillessen to get down to it.
The South Americans continued to dominate, enjoying large spells of possession, but the game's lack of pace meant they struggled to carve opportunities through Louis Van Gaal's well-organised side. Daley Blind was caught out down the left flank a number of times, however, Argentina couldn't take advantage of the subsequent corners, with the Netherlands superior height helping them see off any chances.
The Dutch slowly began to ease into the game offensively, and after Dirk Kuyt and Van Persie linked up on the edge of the area, the latter attempted to steer a ball into the path of the ex-Liverpool man but it was cleared. The Argentines burst forward on the counter and won yet another corner, this time on the left side, and Lavezzi's delivery was better, falling straight towards Ezequiel Garay. The recent Zenit St Petersburg signing opted to stoop for a header, but his connection was poor and the effort rose up over the bar.
The game remained relatively quiet, with no real clear cut chances for either Argentina or Netherlands. Just after the hour mark, Arjen Robben tried to trick Demichelis, but the defender flicked it out for a corner and from the corner, Van Gaal's side couldn't find an orange shirt with Sergio Romero twice being forced to run out and punch the ball clear. Romero punched the initial corner away, before Sneijder collected it and swung a ball in from the left, but again the Argentine goalkeeper was there to clear, moments before Van Persie was controversially called offside for a flick-on header towards Blind inside the area as the La Albiceleste defence looked uncomfortable.
Netherlands were too looking weak at the back, with Blind and Bruno Martins-Indi looking rather suspect, but Argentina could not exploit that. Martins-Indi was caught out by Messi's magnificent footwork, holding out an arm to stop him darting past. It was the Barcelona man who stepped up to deliver, but Cillessen gathered his overhit cross with ease. Not long later, the Argentine no.10 was at the centre of it all again with a superb switch to the left flank, but Marcos Rojo's ball into Gonzalo Higuain inside the area was poor, drifting out on the far side for a throw-in.
Slowly but surely, the game trudged into the break at 0-0. The first-half had been indifferent, with neither performing better than their opposition, and Garay's header had been the best opportunity of the game, showing a clear lack of invention as even that chance wasn't really clear cut. Each side were cancelling one another out in the middle of the park, failing to build any attacks due to strong defensive set-ups. Mascherano, in particular, was excellent in his holding role, restricting Robben to just a single pass and a mere six touches. Tension and a lack of zeal meant very little had happened.
At the interval, Van Gaal decided to replace the clumsy and cautioned Martins-Indi with Daryl Janmaat to prevent Argentina's joy down the right, whilst Alejandro Sabella kept the same shape.
As a result, Oranje began to look more dangerous as the game stayed scrappy. Gregory Wijnaldum's positive run down the right led to a deep cross which found Kuyt, who controlled it well but couldn't get a shot away or find a team-mate. Still, they posed more of a threat and began to look more comfortable on the ball. For the first time, Robben finally found the space to open up the defence after a quick costless-kick, dancing past one defender but he tried to do too much as Lucas Biglia intercepted his run.
Afterwards, Enzo Perez had a run of his own as he burst forward down the right flank, before lifting his head up and passing to Messi on the edge of the box. The diminutive playmaker was just setting himself up to shoot, before Vlaar's superb tackle won possession. Moments later, Higuain was gifted a golden opportunity but the Napoli forward's contact on the header was left wanting after Lavezzi's twisting and turning had led to a smart cross. In truth, it was glorious defending from substitute Janmaat, who managed to distract the striker from 10-yards.
By the hour mark, little had changed and the game was still finely balanced. Nigel De Jong was brought off as Jordy Clasie was brought on to improve the flow of the game in the centre of the park and attempt to add some creativity for Oranje. The Feyenoord took an a holding 'anchor' role in the midfield, looking to thread some passes through and his affect was evident, as the Netherlands clearly looked to push forward, whilst Vlaar's superly-timed tackle stopped Messi, looking to take advantage of the space in behind the midfield.
Still though, the fans in São Paulo had witnessed little to scream and shout about. Mascherano's poor hung up ball gifted Van Gaal's side an opportunity but Garay managed to clear the danger after Kuyt's poor ball towards the back post. They certainly had a change of emphasis, as they increasingly looked to push forward and instead it was Argentina on the counter-attacks. They nearly profited from one, when Lavezzi cut inside on the edge of the area and teed up a shot, but centre-back Vlaar did well to block.
However, shortly after the impressive Aston Villa skipper was guilty of an error after slipping to the ground and throwing himself into Higuain, giving away a needless costless-kick but the below-par Messi's costless-kick was terrible, soaring 10 yards above anyone in the box and out for a goal-kick. With as little as quarter of an hour remaining of normal time, the game began to heat up a little. Robben was found by Vlaar with a smart hooked pass, and the Bayern Munich man's awareness to see Janmaat was superb, but his ball into Van Persie at the near-post saw the forward flagged for offside.
They were almost made to pay, when the lethargic Argentina finally showed promising signs as Perez showed a short flash of incisiveness. From the right flank, his low ball found the outstretching Higuain from five yards out, and his volleyed effort looked to have broken the deadlock. Sadly, it had only hit the side netting and the forward should have done better with the chance.
With just ten minutes of a relatively dull encounter remaining, the tempo remained unstimulating and the final ball was left lacking in the final third on both accounts. In an attempt to steal it late on, Sergio Aguero and Rodrigo Palacio were brought on for midfielder Enzo Perez and Gonzalo Higuain as the injured Angel Di Maria looked on helplessly from the bench.
In the 83rd minute, Rojo tried a speculative effort from range and it was well-driven but straight at Cillessen and an easy save for the keeper. As the game opened up, Demichelis was forced to concede a corner after he terrifically managed to get a toe on the end of the ball, but the delivery from the corner was poor and Rojo managed to head it away.
Finally, a bit of enthusiasm seaped into the encounter as each team sensed how little was left. First, Messi found Aguero down the inside-right channel and he looked to feed Palacio, rather than go for an effort on goal. They were guilty of hesitancy again, after Mascherano's driving run into the Dutch corner should have resulted in more, but his decision to try for a through ball towards Messi instead of shooting was the wrong one.
With just three minutes of stoppage time remaining, Kuyt's smart ball into the centre found Sneijder, who flicked the ball backwards into Robben's path. The 30-year-old ran into the box bearing down on goal and could have nicked it at the death had it not been for Mascherano's outstanding last-ditch tackle that denied him and forced an extra half-an-hour.
Germany were likely licking their lips after watching this dull encounter stretch out for 120 minutes, but the game took on an added eagerness in extra-time. The Dutch began to look promising with some good build-up outside the box, but Kuyt's ball was disastrous - drifting out of play. Meanwhile, Van Gaal used up his final substitution by deciding to bring on Klaas Jan Huntelaar, replacing Van Persie.
Suddenly, Robben came alive after outwitting Demichelis and Pablo Zabaleta until Mascherano recovered to smother it out for a corner, which as expected, came to little more than a throw-in across the opposite side of the pitch. They were certainly the team on top, as Messi seemed to have gone 20 minutes without a single touch of the ball. He had been peripheral throughout the night as Oranje slowly grew in confidence and momentum, as Robben cut past Perez magnificently before drilling a low shot into the clutch of Sergio Romero.
In a last throw of the dice, 33-year-old Maxi Rodriguez was drifted in to replace Lavezzi and provide some fresh legs and a conventional midfield shape. The game began to stretch, but fatigue was causing havoc for both sides, who were visibly tiring. The final few moments of the first-half of extra-time saw Argentina earn an opportunity, as Huntelaar clipped the heels of Mascherano. From the costless-kick, Messi delivered a ball into the box from 40-yards and it dipped well for Aguero, but Cillessen rose above him to punch the ball away. Just after, Palacio bombed down the right and whipped a fine cross into the middle for Aguero, who could've stuck a leg out but instead Vlaar intercepted it and guided out for a corner which was dealt with by Stefan De Vrij.
Once the second half of extra-time, both sides began to get desperate. It was telling when De Vrij tried an ambitious effort from 30-yards which swerved wide of Cillessen's goal. The game, as it had in normal time, continued to lack any glaringly obvious good opportunities, other than the chances Higuain and Robben almost latched onto earlier on.
With five minutes left, Sabella's Argentina found themselves with the best opportunity of the night. Palacio received the ball through on goal but the Inter man couldn't make his mind up on how to approach the shot and he ended up trying to direct a header past the Dutch keeper but he couldn't get any power behind it and Cillessen caught the ball easily.
They continued to threaten, when Messi weaved through a few orange shirts on the right flank before hanging a ball into the box from the by-line. It fell to Rodriguez, who tried a side-footed effort but the connection was poor and didn't trouble the Ajax keeper. Ultimately, neither side could break the deadlock and it was to be penalties that decided who would reach the World Cup final, and who would be playing in the third-place play-off final the night prior.
After 120 minutes of a largely underwhelming, and dull affair, the penalties added a much needed bit of drama. Van Gaal had used all of his substitutes, meaning he had to trust Jasper Cillessen in goal rather then repeat the heroics of bringing on Tim Krul especially for the occasion.
First up were Netherlands, as centre-back Ron Vlaar was trusted with the first spot-kick. He stepped up diligently, before Romero got down to his low side-footed effort with a strong arm. Argentina had the advantage, and they took it. It was that man Messi, who went to Cillessen's right when the keeper jumped to the left to give La Albiceleste a 1-0 lead.
Next up, Robben stepped up to put his country back in it and after a short costless-kick, he sent Romero the wrong way with a perfectly placed penalty. Ezequiel Garay was the next man to make the lonely walk to the spot, and ever so confidently, he smashed an effort past Cillessen to make the score 2-1.
Sneijder was the next man trusted with the spot and Romero got down to it with an absolutely stunning save to deny the playmaker. With the chance to make it 3-1, the clinical Aguero stepped up and coolly slotted under Cillessen into the far left.
Dirk Kuyt scored a brilliant penalty to restore some faith in the Netherlands, but Maxi Rodriguez smashed home the decisive penalty to seal the fate of his country. Cillessen had got a hand to it, but he could only push it off the underside of the bar and in, sending the Argentines into absolute raptures and sending the Brazilians into even more misery, as they witnessed their arch-rivals reach the final for the first time since 1990.
Brazil - Holland will contest the third place play-off on Saturday night, but most importantly that result sets up the thrilling encounter of Argentina - Germany in the Final, for the third time, on Sunday. In 1986 it was Argentina, in 1990 it was Germany, but who will it be in 2014?