Final Scoreline for Match 60 (ROUND OF 8 #4):
NETHERLANDS - 0 (4)
COSTA RICA - 0 (3)
Never expected the free-flowing and freely scoring Dutch to have played out 120 minutes of soccer without scoring even once, but it happened in this last Round of 8 match.
Repeatedly thwarted by the Costa Rican keeper and messing up quite a few chances themselves by hitting the bars and missing easy goal-scoring opportunities, they found themselves at the mercy of the Penalty Shootout elimination, a part of soccer in which the Dutch were never strong. Luckily for them, 2 shots in the penalties - from Bryan Ruiz and Michael Umana - were saved superbly by the Dutch keeper, Tim Krul, who had come as a substitute at the end of extra time.
The move proved to be a masterstroke in the end.
Full marks to both keepers, Navas for Costa Rica for keeping Netherlands at bay all through the match, and Krul for saving the crucial penalties.
Netherlands move through to the semi-finals, where they set up an encounter with Argentina.