Netherlands v Costa Rica World Cup Quarter Finals

Netherlands v Costa Rica (21.00 GMT)

The Dutch have been free-scoring thus far at this years competition, medicine they lead the scoring charts alongside Colombia with 12 goals and have got to this stage with some very good results, they have beaten the likes of Spain, Chile and Mexico on their way to the quarter finals and have looked to have had one of the toughest routes but when you have the like of Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie who are both on 3 goals you always have a chance.

The underdog story goes to Costa Rica this year, who would have thought that they would have got out of their group but more unbelievable was the fact that they one the group! They came up against Greece in the last round and it was almost heartbreak with a 91st Greece equalizer which sent the match to extra-time, Costa Rica had to play 54 minutes with just 10 men but continued their fairytale with a win on penalties.

Our Thoughts:

Zipster

The Dark Horses this year have been Costa Rica but they are coming up against their biggest test to date as they face a Dutch side who are flying and a side who are scoring plenty. The question is whether the Costa Rica bubble is about to burst or do they have something else up their sleeves, they are in a win/win situation as no one expected them to get this far so win or lose they have done their country proud. For me this will be the end of the road although the Dutch have struggled to keep clean sheets so there may be goals for both sides here and that is part of my bet.

BTTS and Netherlands to win at 4.20 (Coral)

Gecko

Holland have done what they usually do whilst Costa Rica have made a mockery of their pre-tournament 2500/1 odds

The Dutch have relied on hitting a few long balls and hoping the pace and skill of Robben and RVP will do the job – they started superbly against Spain but have cooled off a bit – they really should beat a team of CR’s ability fairly comfortably but we are at that stage now when the pressure is on and games become way tighter than they look on paper

Holland aren’t the best defensively and CR can score if they feel adventurous; the likelihood for me is that they sit and try to contain too much – Holland have already proven good at coming back late on, let’s just hope they don’t resort to diving yet again

This could be a cracker of both attack – they may well both sit back however so again, HT draw (2.08) could be worth taking. the Dutch should score and that will draw CR out so perhaps most goals in the 2nd half (2.17 best) is wise and BTTS (evens) and Over 2.5 (2.25) could come into play late on