Netherlands and Uruguay are taking on each other in the first semi final of the World Cup Football 2010 at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town on 6 July. Both sides are determined to step into the tournament final with players on both teams are committed to give their 100 percent.
Time
The match kicks off at 18:30 GMT and 20:30 local time. According to Netherlands time, the match starts 20:30. Football fans in Uruguay can watch the match from 15:30. In the US, the match begins at 14:30 (New York time) and at 11:30 (California time).
Live Score
To get the live score of the match, visit the following link:
http://www.livescore.com/
After defeating Brazil in the quarter final, Netherlands is now full of confident. They showed some dominating performance so far in the tournament. They reached the knock out stage winning all three group stage matches, a feat they have achieved for the first time.
Netherlands defeated Slovakia 2-1 in the round of 16 before clinching the come-from-back victory over Brazil by the same margin. The most important thing is that two of their key players Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder are progressively getting into their best. Naturally, the whole is now inspired to achieve their first ever World Cup success.
Netherlands reached the World Cup final in 1974 and 1978, but could not win the title. This time, they would not like to squander off the opportunity.
Uruguay is playing in a World Cup semi final for the first time since 1970 and they could not reach the World Cup final since 1950. So, this is a big opportunity for the two-time world champions to restore their past glory this year and players like Diego Forlan could see it as an ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to become a part of the history.
Absence of suspended Luis Suarez would lessen their attacking prowess. So, Forlan would have to step up to take some extra responsibility on his shoulder to fill up the gap left by Suarez who received a red card for stopping a goal-bound ball by his hands during their quarter final win over Ghana. Jorge Fucile would also miss the Netherlands match due to suspension.
Uruguay captain Diego Lugano is uncertain for the match. He is now racing against time to shake off a knee injury picked up during the Ghana match. If he can not play Mauricio Victorino would most probably be deputizing for him at the center of the defense. Maximiliano Pereira and Martin Caceres are most likely to fill up the slots of full backs in the starting eleven.
Netherlands is missing holding midfielder Nigel de Jong and Gregory van der Wiel as both the players are suspended. Demy de Zeeuw would most probably take Nigel de Jong’s place, while Khalid Boulahrouz would be deputizing for Gregory van der Wiel. The good news is that Joris Mathijsen has recovered from his injury and would start against Uruguay.
Uruguay’s attack looks pretty much weak in the absence of Suarez, but the Dutch would also miss some defensive minded players. So, there seems to be a balance.
Uruguay would expect a dominating performance from Forlan, while the Dutch would be looking for another special performance from Sneijder.
Overall, there are all the elements present to make it a memorable affair. Netherlands seems to be favorite on pen and paper, but Uruguay could display an inspirational performance to prove that their progress to this far in the tournament was not a fluke.
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