The Netherlands Beats Uruguay in a Frenetic Finale!

The Netherlands beat Uruguay with a score of 3-2 to advance to the finals of the 2010 World Cup. The game, as the announcer said, was "frenetic" and a heart-stopper.

Now we have Germany vs. Spain tomorrow and then the winner of that game will play The Netherlands. Amazing to have a final of this World Cup of only European teams.

Uruguay, a country of only about 3 million, who won both the World Cup in 1930 and 1950, should be congratulated for its terrific game today (especially without one of their star players, Suarez, who was red carded and had to sit out this match). (Plus, that second goal by the Dutch may have been questionable.)

To all of my colleagues and friends in The Netherlands, congratulations! The headers and athleticism of your soccer team have made your matches super exciting to watch at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa!

History has already been made since no European team has ever won a World Cup outside of Europe!

The Final Four in the 2010 World Cup

Rather than having 3 South American teams in the final four of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, as many were predicting, we have 1 team from South America left, from Uruguay (who beat Ghana yesterday with penalty kicks), and three European teams: The Netherlands (who beat Brazil 2-1), Germany (who beat Argentina 4-0 today), and Spain (who beat Paraguay today 1-0).

Next week, Uruguay will play against The Netherlands, and Spain will play against Germany.

The New York Times had a wonderful article on Diego Maradona, the coach of the Argentinian team, which, I suspect, he may even have time now to read. I heard that his top player, Lionel Messi, was not feeling well on Thursday and missed practice (perhaps that affected his team's performance today).

Congratulations to all the teams who played their hearts out at this World Cup. From my perspective as a spectator and a huge World Cup fan, they all deserve standing ovations.