World Cup 2010, Semifinals, Day 1: The Clockwork Orange Wind Up for Final Match

Uruguay 2 - 3 Netherlands

No want of drama here. No matter what your opinions were at the start of this first semifinals match, by halftime you were in awe of two tremendous teams and had to concede that it was either side's match to win. Netherlands came out with all the force and alacrity we've come to expect from the brilliant orange and La Celeste fought back with coolness, calmness and a goal-making maestro known as Forlan.

Netherlands attacked early on in the third minute, but the shot went wide. A little later, came a more concerted Dutch effort leading up to a meteoric kick by Van Bronckhorst who sent the ball soaring into the goal from far out left field. If you were wondering what World Cup soccer looks like, this was it.

The Dutch were flying high off that goal for a good twenty minutes. And just as halftime began to rear its ugly head, came a total thing of beauty from the great and powerful Forlan. At that point, any neutral feeling I had over the outcome was overtaken by awe. If Forlan was Uruguay then Uruguay was the team I wanted to win.

Forlan's equalizer held down the Dutch for a while, and in the 67th minute, a missed opportunity by forward Robben gave the impression of a rattled Netherlands. But that was not the case, and as if our cup of golden goals had not already runneth over onto the floor and down the hallway in this match, we were treated to yet another prize-winning shot, this one an impossible goal by Sneijder that somehow found its way to safety, like a baby through a construction site, (3:12).

Before Spanish announcers had time to complete their goal shout for Sneijder, Robben headed in a third, which at this point in the game seemed an exponential lead for the Dutch. Moments later, Uruguay substituted Forlan, as if to say the real show's over, time to place the team's Stradivarius back in its case.

The countdown from 3 minutes of stoppage time ticked away as Dutch fans went wild, celebrating a 3-1 score that headlines could easily hail as an orange crush. Not so, said Pereira, who injected fear back into the game with this last-minute act of defiance that left Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg looking baffled by the sheer, barefaced audacity of it all.

In the end, brilliant orange triumphed over celestial blue, but it was an incredible fight.

What else can be said about this magnificent team from the Netherlands. They have not lost a single match in this tournament. Their game is consistently strong, they adapt to their opponent, they're quick on the draw. With every bright-orange fiber of its fabric, the Netherlands is undeniably THE team to beat for the World Cup Championship 2010.