World Cup 2014: Louis van Gaal makes Tim Krul Netherlands' penalty shoot-out hero | OneFootball

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·22 November 2022

World Cup 2014: Louis van Gaal makes Tim Krul Netherlands' penalty shoot-out hero

Article image:World Cup 2014: Louis van Gaal makes Tim Krul Netherlands' penalty shoot-out hero

The FIFA World Cup can propel a player’s career and have their name written into the history books.

Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul enjoyed such a moment in the 2014 tournament, with his heroics in a penalty shootout against Costa Rica.


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Netherlands and Costa Rica – 2014 World Cup

The quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup saw Louis Van Gaal’s Netherlands side clash with underdogs of the tournament, Costa Rica.

Prior to this game, the Netherlands had defeated the reigning world champions Spain in a 5-1 thumping, helping seal their advancement from the Group Stages.

On the other hand, Costa Rica shocked their group, which was labelled the group of death, finishing above Italy, Uruguay and England.

The knockout stages saw the Netherlands drawn against Mexico in the round of 16, where Van Gaal’s side emerged as 2-1 victors, and Costa Rica defeated Greece on penalties.

Netherlands 0-0 Costa Rica – Quarter finals

The quarter-final match took place at Arena Fonte Nova, where both teams applied pressure from the get-go.

Wesley Sneijder came close two times in quick succession as one of his freekicks was saved by Keylor Navas, and the other struck the post.

The first 90 minutes saw Costa Rica defend for their lives as the Netherlands continued to attack but weren’t able to break the deadlock.

Louis van Gaal subs on Tim Krul for penalty shootout heroics

It was the same story for the 30 minutes of extra time, resulting in Costa Rica having to partake in another penalty shootout.

Van Gaal made the unexpected tactical substitution before the full-time whistle to take starting goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen off and replace him with Tim Krul for the penalties.

Article image:World Cup 2014: Louis van Gaal makes Tim Krul Netherlands' penalty shoot-out hero

Costa Rica stepped up to take the first penalty with the now-Norwich City goalkeeper going the right way, but Celso Borges was able to just find the bottom right corner.

Costa Rica hoped they’d regain the lead as Bryan Ruiz was about to take the nation’s second spot kick of the shootout.

Ruiz aimed for the bottom corner again, but Krul would make the save, to the delight of the Netherlands fans, staff and players.

Article image:World Cup 2014: Louis van Gaal makes Tim Krul Netherlands' penalty shoot-out hero

Both sides continued to convert their penalties, with the game coming down to Costa Rica centre-back Michael Umana, who stepped up with the opportunity to keep his side in the game.

Krul talked to Umana, getting in the Costa Rica player’s head, and saved the penalty, sending the Netherlands to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

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