 |
Brazil-Netherlands Brazil beat Holland on penalties in World Cup semi-final |
 |
Two saves by Brazilian keeper Taffarel in the penalty shoot-out saw Brazil beat Holland 4-2 here on Tuesday and book their place in Sunday's World Cup final.
They will now play the winner of Wednesday's semi-final between France and Croatia.
The match was 1-1 after extra time following goals by Ronaldo just after the break and a late header by Patrick Kliuvert.
In the shootout, Ronaldo converted into top left corner before Frank de Boer equalized.
Rivaldo hit home in the top right, Bergkamp scored in the bottom right and Emerson made it 3-2 to Brazil with a shot into the top left hand corner.
But Phillip Cocu, ordered to respot the ball, had his shot saved as Taffarel dived to his left.
Brazilian captain Dunga, who scored the winning shoot-out penalty to give Brazil the trophy in 1994, made it 4-2.
Ronald de Boer had to score to keep Dutch hopes alive but his shot to the right was brilliantly saved by Taffarel.
Coach Mario Zagallo broke in to tears as the Brazilian players celebrated their sixth time in the final.
Ronaldo opened the scoring only 20 seconds into the second half.
A long searching pass from Roberto Carlos set Ronaldo free and in the chase with Phillip Cocu it was the 21-year-old who got to it first.
The Inter Milan star, who has been accused of not delivering at France 98, made no mistake as he cooly slipped the ball between the legs of Edwin Van der Sar.
Ronaldo is now Brazil's top scorer here with four and has a chance to clinch the goal scoring title in the final. Argentina's Batistuta and Italy's Christian Vieri, who are both out of the tournament, lead with five goals.
Just when it looked Brazil were through Kliuvert pulled off a sensational equalizer in the 87th minute to push the match into extra time.
Ronald de Boer floated in a cross and as Kluivert rose to meet it Junior Baiano seemed to be rooted to the ground, leaving the 22-year-old AC Milan a free header.
In extra time, Robert Carlos was looking dangerous on the left as he set up attacks.
A Ronaldo header was saved on the line by the head of Frank de Boer and he had a shot saved by Van der Sar diving to his left.
Substitute Pierre Van Hooijdonk had a freekick saved by Taffarel following an Emerson foul on Edgar Davids.
Then Frank de Boer turned playmaker to hit a defence-splitting past to Kluivert, whose left foot shot just went past Taffarel's left hand upright.
In the second half of extra time, Ronaldo turned and ran into the Dutch box but Ronald de Boer, tireless in runs the length and breadth of the pitch, made a goal-saving tackle.
Real Madrid's Clarence Seedorf came on for Wim Jonk as Hiddink tried other options to gain the upper hand.
But it came down to the penalty lottery and Holland were found lacking and Brazil were still on track for their fifth World Cup title.
