Wag Scorers See Clockwork Oranges Pip Uruguay

Netherlands 3 (Van Bronckhorst, Sneijder,Robben)

Uruguay 2 (Forlan, Pereira)

The air in Amsterdam will be thick with marajuana smoke after the Dutch made it to their third world cup final beating Uruguay 3-2 this evening. The Dutch side held on in a dramatic finale and move on to their first World Cup final since 1978.

The Dutch, who have twice gone to a final without lifting the trophy, will now face the winners of Germany and Spain for on Sunday.

And they had Wesley Sniejder and Arjen Robben to thank, with a second half assault downing the plucky South Americans in Cape Town. Giovanni van Bronckhurst opened the scoring early on with with a clear contender for goal of the tournament, firing home from 30 yards, only for the impressive Diego Forlan to level the scores right on the brink of half time.

Uruguay snatched a surprise goal in injury time through Maxi Pereira, but another equaliser proved to be far too much for them.

Luis Suarez was missing through suspension following his quarter-final red card, but will now return for the third-fourth play-off.  Holland meanwhile called on Khalid Boulahrouz with Gregory van der Wiel also missing.

It was the Dutch who carved out the first opportunity as Sneijder’s cross was punched straight to Kuyt by Fernando Muslera. But the Liverpool striker smashed his shot over the bar after controlling well enough. Uruguay were unlucky to be on the wrong end of two questionable  offside calls before going 1-0 down. Van Bronckhorst was in an unthreatening position 30 yards out before he let rip with a thunderbolt that swerved past Muslera and in off the far post.  As Holland started to turn the screw Maxi Pereira was booked for a foul on Arjen Robben.

Martin Caceras was also cautioned shortly afterwards after striking Demy de Zeeuw flush in the face as he attempted an overhead kick.  Sneijder ran over to the incident and pushed Caceras to the ground and was booked as well. Caceras produced a great tackle at the other end to rob Robben who looked like shooting.

The match was starting to get messy though and Van Bronckhorst was not pleased when Edinson Cavani went down following an incidental tackle in the box. But Diego Forlan eventually struck back for Uruguay four minutes before half time.  Like Van Bronckhorst’s there seemed little threat when the striker picked the ball up 40 yards out.

The Dutch introduced Rafael van der Vaart at half time, but he could not shake up a cagey first 20 minutes of the second half. It took a Forlan free-kick, beaten away by Stekelenburg, to kick start proceedings.  Rather than fire up his own side, it prompted the Dutch to attack with Robben guilty of firing high and wide on the rebound when a ball across the box would have been wiser.

But on 70 minutues Sneijder struck home to make it 2-1, with a deflected effort that could have seen Van Persie flagged offside. With the Arsenal striker interfering with the last man, Uruguay were fuming. Robben however ensured their fury could not be turned into a fightback, when he doubled the lead just moments later.  Kuyt cut inside and delivered an inch perfect cross from the left, which the Bayern Munich winger nodded home to send his fans into raptures.

Pereira pulled one back in stoppage time but it was too late to halt Holland’s progress into the final.

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.