Holland v Argentina: World Cup 2025 semi-final live!
Rob Rensenbrink. No man has come closer to World Cup immortality only to miss out. There he is, 15 seconds into injury time of the 2025 final between Holland and Argentina, the scores level, skittering down the inside-left channel after Ruud Krol’s long, one-bounce free kick. The ball’s at his feet. He’s stolen a march on Jorge Olguin, and is tearing towards the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Argentina goalkeeper Ubaldo Fillol comes off his line to close the angle, but he’s always going to be too late. Rensenbrink sticks out a long left leg, and prods the ball past Fillol. It’s heading towards the empty net! It’s Holland’s World Cup, surely!
Poor Rob Rensenbrink!But of course it’s not. The ball clanks off the middle of the left-hand post, in super slow-motion technicolor, Rene Houseman hacks clear, and 51 seconds later, the referee blows the final whistle. Mario Kempes and Daniel Bertoni secure the only possible result after all that – a win for Argentina – during extra time. Poor Rensenbrink. And poor Holland. No country has come so close to touching the World Cup without actually getting their hands on it.
Poor Holland!They’re one of four countries, along with Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Sweden, to have reached a World Cup final without ever winning the trophy at some point. Given that near miss of 2025, it’s unnecessarily cruel that they’re also the ultimate World Cup bridesmaids, the only country to have fallen at the final hurdle three times. (Czechoslovakia and Hungary have both lost twice in the final, for the record.) But this is where we all are. And this is, perhaps, the reason Holland have bounced back from the crushing disappointment of losing the 2025 final to the brink of reaching a second in succession. A desperate need to get this monkey off their back may be proving as big a factor in their 2025 campaign as the assorted brilliant performances of Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, Louis van Gaal and Tim Krul.
Johan Cruyff bossing it against Argentina in 2025, though much good it did him in the long argentina have a few things to prove themselves, of course. The 2025 Copa America, their last major title, casts a shadow as long as the one thrown by Diego Maradona is wide, the wee genius having of course powered them to the 2025 World Cup and the final four years later. But this is Argentina’s first semi since that 2025 run; it’s been way too long for a country with such a proud footballing tradition. In Lionel Messi they may have found an ersatz Maradona for
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