Argentina boss Scaloni 'not planning for penalties' against Netherlands
If Argentina are to win a third World Cup, with Lionel Messi and his teammates seeking their first, they must first overcome a nation that is equally hungry, in the form of Netherlands, in the quarter-finals.
The Dutch have been runners-up at a World Cup three times, most recently in 2010 before they were eliminated by Argentina on penalties in the 2014 semi-finals – then failed to qualify in 2018.
Netherlands, with Louis van Gaal in his third spell in charge, topped their group in Qatar before beating USA in the last 16, while Argentina also topped their pool before defeating Australia.
The winners here will face Croatia in the semi-finals, after the 2018 finalists beat Brazil on penalties.
Follow all the action with our live blog below:
GOAL! Netherlands 2-2 Argentina (Weghorst, 90+11’)⚽️
90+11 mins: The Netherlands win a free kick next to the ‘D’ once again. This may well be the final action of the match. Cody Gakpo and Teun Koopmeiners are the men standing over the set piece.
Koopmeiners slides a soft pass into the box where Wout Weghorst controls it and sweeps a left-footed shot into the bottom corner!
Incredible scenes! The Netherlands are taking the game to extra-time!
Netherlands 1-2 Argentina
90+9 mins: Argentina are spent. They’re offering nothing in terms off attacking football and are just holding on to their lead, doing their best to break up play and defend the long balls up the pitch.
Just a couple of minutes left in the game, unless the Netherlands score.
Netherlands 1-2 Argentina
90+6 mins: The Netherlands flood the box with their tall men. Three of them surround Nicolas Otamendi but the defender wins the ball in the air as the cross comes in before nodding it clear and eventually being fouled.
Netherlands 1-2 Argentina
90+3 mins: The Netherlands free kick is positioned perfectly for Cody Gakpo just in the tip of the ‘D’, Steven Berghuis is stood over the ball too and he hits it drilling his effort into the Argentina wall.
Netherlands 1-2 Argentina
90 mins: There’s going to be 10 minutes of added time to play! Cody Gakpo is fouled on the edge of the box as Argentina fail to deal with the long ball again.
The South American side are just losing control of the game.
Netherlands 1-2 Argentina
89 mins: Berghuis fouls Messi in the middle of the park and gives the referee some unnecessary verbals after he awards Argentina a free kick. Berghuis is shown a yellow card.
Oh here we go. Leandro Paredes lunges into a sliding tackle on Nathan Ake before booting the ball into the Netherlands’ dugout. The Dutch subs storm the pitch and kick off with the Argentine.
The referee struggles to control the situation before giving Paredes a yellow card.
Netherlands 1-2 Argentina
86 mins: It’ll be interesting to see how Argentina play this now. They’ve got six or seven minutes to see out.
Chance! Steven Berghuis cuts into the box from the right side and smashes a shot at goal but it takes a deflection and rattles into the side netting.
Virgil van Dijk has stayed up the pitch he’s playing as a target man.
GOAL! Netherlands 1-2 Argentina (Weghorst, 83’)⚽️
83 mins: Game on! The Netherlands have a second attempt on goal when the cross comes in from the right wing. Wout Weghorst makes a great run to the near post and meets it with a solid header that does for Emi Martinez and brings the Dutch back into this game.
Netherlands 0-2 Argentina
79 mins: Wout Weghorst is introduced to replace Memphis Depay. The Netherlands need to change something and with two big front men now on the pitch it seems they’ll be booting it wide and long.
Nicolas Tagliafico and German Pezzella also come on but for Argentina with Marcos Acuna and Cristian Romero taken off.
Netherlands 0-2 Argentina
76 mins: The Netherlands players are so frustrated with the way this game is going. A cross comes into the Argentina box and Emi Martinez comes out to claim the ball.
He leaps over Luuk de Jong and plucks the ball out of the air. The forward isn’t pleased and the two players square off with each other. Acuna gets involved as does Depay.
It’s an argy bargy over nothing.
