Oranje delight: Netherlands eliminate mighty Brazil from World Cup

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (AP): The Netherlands came from behind to stun five-time champions Brazil 2-1 yesterday and become the first semi-finalists of the World Cup.

Wesley Sneijder scored the winner in the 68th minute with a header following a corner kick.

"It just slipped through from my bald head and it was a great feeling," Sneijder said.

It was the Netherlands' first win over Brazil since the 1974 World Cup when Johan Cruyff was the team's star and "total football" reigned.

"It was an amazing game. I think we showed the whole world how we can play," Sneijder said. "Finally we won, we beat Brazil."

Robinho had given Brazil the lead in the 10th, but the Netherlands equalised in the 53rd with an own goal from Felipe Melo.

"We had two players going for the same ball and what happened happened," Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar said of the equaliser, his eyes filled with tears.

It was a match of sharp contrasts for Felipe Melo, who set up the opening goal with a brilliant through pass but then was shown a direct red card in the 73rd for stamping on Netherlands winger Arjen Robben, leaving Brazil with 10 men.

The Netherlands reached the semi-finals for the first time since losing to Brazil on penalties at the 1998 World Cup in France and will next face either Uruguay or Ghana.

Having won all five of their matches so far, the Netherlands extended their team-record unbeaten streak to 24 games, stretching back to a September 2008 loss to Australia.

At the final whistle, the Dutch players jumped on each other near midfield and lingered to savour the moment.

The majority of the fans inside the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium were clad in Brazilian yellow, although many of them were wearing South Africa jerseys of the same colour. Long after the match ended, the only fans remaining were orange-shirted Netherlands supporters, waving their country's red-white-and-blue flags and chanting "Oranje".

The Netherlands reached consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978 but lost both - to Germany and Argentina, respec-tively - and their only major tournament victory was the 1988 European Championship.

The Dutch will be favoured against either Uruguay or Ghana in the semi-finals.

Brazil also lost in the quarter-finals four years ago, falling to France 1-0. Former Brazil captain Dunga was hired to coach the team after that loss despite no previous managerial experience and his future is certain to come into question now.

"We didn't expect this," Dunga said. "We know that any World

Cup match is about 90 minutes. In the first half, we were able to play better and we weren't able to maintain that rhythm in the second half."

Dunga immediately accepted blame for the loss.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, I am the coach of the Brazilian team," he said, "I have the greatest responsibility."

On a warm and pleasant afternoon before a sell-out crowd of 42,286, Brazil dominated the first 45 minutes, then fell apart.

Robinho's goal started with a long pass from Felipe Melo through the heart of the Netherlands defence, setting up an easy score for the Santos striker.

Two minutes before he scored, Robinho had a goal waved off for a close offside call on Brazil's first chance.

The one-goal lead was not enough, though, and Brazil began to unravel when Felipe Melo headed the ball into his own net in a mix-up with Julio Cesar, following a cross from Sneijder, who also led Inter Milan to the Champions League title in May.

"We could have lost it in the first 15 minutes," Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk said. "At half-time, I made it very clear to the players. I told them time and time again, 'You have to play your own game. You have to have patience against Brazil.' When the (own goal) goal was scored, we just got better and better."

Sneijder's goal followed a corner kick from Robben. Dirk Kuyt flicked the ball on with a header by the near post and Sneijder found the target from the centre of the area.

Five minutes later, Felipe Melo walked off the field with his head hung low.

"I think if he looked carefully, he would be ashamed, ashamed for Brazilian football," Van Marwijk said of Felipe Melo, who missed Brazil's 3-0 victory over Chile but was rushed back into the line-up since fellow midfielders Elano and Ramires both sat out - Elano with a right ankle injury and Ramires due to yellow cards.

Brazil had one final chance in the 89th but a free kick from Daniel Alves smacked into a thick Dutch wall.

"The first half was really difficult for us. We were 1-0 behind, a great save by our goalkeeper on Kaka kept us there," Sneijder said. "At half-time, we said to each other that we had to improve things and put more pressure on the Brazilian defence. For 45 minutes, we went full throttle and we were rewarded."