Argentina v Netherlands, 09 July 2014

Kick-off 5.00pm local (9.00pm BST). Argentina won 4-2 on penalties. After extra time. Man of the Match: Sergio Romero (Argentina) Assistant referees: Bahattin Duran (Turkey) Tarık Ongun (Turkey) Fourth official: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden) Fifth official: Mathias Klasenius (Sweden) The two teams had met in eight previous matches, including four times in the FIFA World Cup: Netherlands won 4–0 in the second group stage of the 1974 FIFA World Cup and 2–1 in the quarter-finals of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Argentina won 3–1 (after extra time) in the final of the 1978 FIFA World Cup, where as a group stage encounter of the 2006 FIFA World Cup ended in a 0–0 draw. The Netherlands made one change to their starting line-up from their quarter-final, with Nigel de Jong returning from injury to replace Memphis Depay, while Argentina made two changes, with Marcos Rojo returning from suspension to replace José María Basanta and Enzo Pérez replacing the injured Di María. The match finished 0–0 after extra-time with very little chances as both sides cancelled each other out. In the penalty shoot-out, Sergio Romero saved the first penalty from Ron Vlaar diving to his left and the fifth penalty of the shoot-out from Wesley Sneijder when he dived high to his right. Argentina scored all of their four penalties to win 4–2. Maxi Rodríguez scored the decisive fourth penalty, shooting to Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen's right to send Argentina into the final, where they would face Germany, while the Netherlands had to settle for the third-place play-off against Brazil. This was the first World Cup semi-final to end in a goalless draw. Argentina won their fourth World Cup penalty shoot-out, tied with Germany for most wins, and were involved in their fifth World Cup shoot-out, a record for any nation.