Uruguay’s Luis Suarez will miss Tuesday’s match because of a red card.
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World Cup provides incredible story lines every four years, and Tuesday's semifinal game between Uruguay and Netherlands was a matchup that very few could have predicted.
These two countries have proud soccer histories, but neither was expected to reach this stage of the tournament. Both teams will also be without some key players for this contest due to card infractions.
Most offshore sports books included in the Don Best live betting odds product installed Netherlands as a decided 320 favorite (bet 320 to win 100) to advance to the finals, while upstart Uruguay is listed as the 260 underdog (bet 100 to win 260).
The total for this matchup is currently set at 2 ½ goals (under -150). ESPN will provide coverage of Tuesday's semifinal beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET from Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa.
Uruguay outlasted Ghana in Friday's quarterfinal contest as a 220 ‘chalk.' Regulation and extra time ended deadlocked at a goal apiece, but 16th-ranked Uruguay advanced on penalty kicks, 4-2. However, it was a missed penalty kick at the end of extra time that appeared to seal Ghana's fate.
With just seconds remaining in extra time, Uruguay's Luis Suarez had a hand ball on the goal line to stop a late score. Suarez was issued a red card and, as a result, will miss Tuesday's semifinal.
Ghana's Asamoah Gyan was awarded a penalty kick on the play, so a successful conversion would have meant that an African team would have advanced to the World Cup semifinals for the first time in history. Gyan, who scored twice on penalty kicks during the group stage, missed this attempt when he hit the crossbar.
Uruguay entered halftime trailing by a goal when Ghana's Sulley Muntari connected on a stellar 40-yard strike during injury time. Midfielder Diego Forlan evened the score in the 55th minute on a free kick. Both teams had a few chances the rest of the way, but it would eventually be decided by penalty kicks.
Netherlands upset top-ranked Brazil Friday as a 220 underdog, 2-1, while the combined three goals went ‘over' the 2 ½-goal (-140) total. The fourth-ranked Dutch now have a team-record 24-game unbeaten streak that extends back to September 2008.
The Dutch netted two goals in the second half, the first of which was credited as an own-goal to Brazilian Felipe Melo in the 52nd minute. Netherlands midfielder Wesley Sneijder curled the ball into the penalty box from 30 yards that skipped off Melo's head past goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Sneijder was credited with the eventual game winner in the 68th minute when he headed the ball into the back of the net off of a corner kick. The 5-foot-7 striker had never scored from a header in his professional career until Friday's game.
The corner kick originally went off of Dirk Kuyt's head right to Sneijder, who buried the shot from inside the goalie box. Brazil's chances for a comeback were further hampered when Melo received a red card in the 73rd minute when he stomped on Arjen Robben after a tackle.
Coach Bert van Marwijk's team was forced to play without central defender Joris Mathijsen who injured his knee during warmups. His status for Tuesday's tilt is still unknown. Defender Gregory van der Wiel and midfielder Nigel de Jong will miss the semifinal game due to accumulated yellow cards.
Brazil was an incredible 35-0-2 in World Cup play when leading at halftime, but has now bowed out of the last two World Cups in the quarterfinals. Netherlands avenged World Cup losses to Brazil in the 1994 quarterfinals and the 1998 semifinals with Friday's triumph.
Uruguay is a country of just 3.5 million people, and hasn't advanced to this stage since the World Cup in 1970. In fact, only six nations with smaller populations have ever even participated in the World Cup. The small South American country won the World Cup in 1930 as hosts and 1950 in Brazil, but has enjoyed very little success since that time.
Uruguay won World Cup Group A with seven points and a 2-0-1 record, scoring four points while yielding none. The team then knocked off South Korea June 26 in the second round, 2-1.
The Dutch are widely considered as the best country to have never won a World Cup, although they advanced to the finals in 1974 and 1978. Netherlands had the misfortune of losing to World Cup hosts both times, falling to West Germany in 1974 and Argentina four years later.
Netherlands dominated Group E play, and was the only country along with Argentina that recorded nine points with three wins. The Dutch outscored opponents during that period, 5-1, and then proceeded to topple Slovakia June 28 in the second round, 2-1.
Both Uruguay and Netherlands have already played at Green Point Stadium during the group stages. Uruguay began its World Cup run June 11 with a scoreless draw against France on this pitch, while Netherlands upended Cameroon June 24 to conclude its first-round games, 2-1.
Uruguay opened the Betting World Cup Odds as a plus 10,000 long shot to win this tournament, but now the nation entertains 8/1 odds.
Netherlands began at plus 1200 to capture its first World Cup, but is now facing 23/10 odds.
Tuesday's forecast for Cape Town, South Africa calls for a 30 percent chance of rain, with a high of 63 degrees and a low of 50.