The Mexicans were ahead few minutes after the start of the second half in the 48 minute through the 25 yard strike of Giovanni dos Santos.
The humidity at the stadium was so high that for the first time in a Fifa world Cup, cooling breaks were introduced. There were two cooling breaks, of about 3 minutes each, which Fifa allowed so that the players can drink water to cool down.
The Mexican players were much better in the two third (2/3) of the play time. It could be said that the Dutch had an escape. In the 88th minute, the pressure that the Orange Boys mounted resulted in the equalizer when Wesley Snijder released a missle-like shot into the net for (1 - 1).
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| Dutch team celebrating Snijder's equalizer |
In the injury time, Arjan Robben was brought down in the box, by the Mexican captain Rafeal Martinez, and the referee pointed to the spot.
Jan - Klaas Huntalaar stepped forword and scored as he strucked the ball in the left far corner of the goalkeeper.
After the match the Dutch team coach, Louis van Gaal, said that the team spirit and the belief of the players led them to win.
''We have a modest group of players but they have outstanding team spirit and this is ultimately what led to the victory.''
''They had faith and believed until the very end. The humidity was not in our favour. We were fresher and fitter than the Mexicans.
''Not only did my players have belief that they could perform today, they also were fit for this match,'' van Gaal added.
His opposite number, the Mexican coach, Miguel Herrera, said that Arjan Robben, dived three times and should have been penalised, because he cheated. Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com
''Robben did three dives and he should have been cautioned. You should cation a guy who is trying to cheat, and then if Robben did it again, he would be sent off,'' he said.
He went on to question, why Fifa put the Portuguese referee in charge of the match, as he was from the same confederation as Holland.
''And why did Fifa choose a referee from the same confederation as Holland instead of one from South America, Asia or Africa?
''The doubtful decisions were always against us. We have to say it in capital letters, in three matches we had horrible refereeing. The man with whistle knocked us out.''
''I want the referee committee to take a look and that the referee goes home just like us,'' Herrera said.
He said that his team did very well in most of the match, but later relaxed and allowed their opponents, which did nothing in the match, chances to come back into it.
''We'd done really well. Then the team sits back and we start to give chances to a team that had not done anything,'' he added.
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