World Cup quarterfinal: Argentina beat the Netherlands in a battle of fury
Chaos reigned supreme in the World Cup quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands, with as many as 18 yellow cards being served up.
Argentina won the match 4-3 on Saturday in a penalty shootout after drawing 2-2 in the extra time.
The battle on the pitch was sparked by Argentine captain Lionel Messi, who was infuriated by the Dutch coach Louis van Gaal’s pre-match comment that Messi “did not participate much” when his side lost the ball.
“Messi is the most dangerous creative player, he is able to create a lot and score goals himself,” van Gaal said. “But when they lose the ball and the opponent has possession, he doesn’t participate much, and this gives us chances [to exploit].”
With the win safely under his belt, Messi told reporters: “Van Gaal says they play good football, but what he did was put on tall people and hit long balls.”
Another target of Messi’s fury was the Netherlands’ Wout Weghorst. According to the Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney, Messi yelled “what are you looking at, fool” in Spanish apparently at Weghorst.
The Dutch player had scored two goals for his team.
Twitter user @AlbicelesteTalk quoted Messi as saying: “I don't like people talking before games.
"The No 19 [Weghorst] came and started to provoke us, bump into us, tell us things. Their coach was not respectful to us either.
“It seemed disrespectful to me, that a coach of his calibre declared like that. Van Gaal does not respect the Argentina National Team.”
Argentina will play Croatia in the semi-final on Wednesday at 2am Thai time at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail, Qatar.
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