Van Gaal leads Dutch into World Cup semifinals

SALVADOR, Brazil — Louis van Gaal made the call, and Tim Krul made the saves.

In another move that will only add to his reputation as a tactical mastermind, the Netherlands coach led his team into the World Cup semifinals after bringing on Krul with seconds remaining in extra time.

Moments later, Krul saved two penalties in a 4-3 shoot-out victory over Costa Rica, making the Manchester United-bound Van Gaal again look like a football genius.

“It worked out,” Van Gaal said Saturday after his team played Costa Rica to a 0-0 draw through extra time. “That was beautiful. I’m a bit proud of that.”

Jasper Cillessen had started in goal for the Dutch team, but Van Gaal made the decision to pull him after 120 minutes of scoreless football and replace him with Krul.

The Newcastle goalkeeper, who really only touched the ball twice all game, saved the second and fifth penalties, and guessed the correct way on all five.

“We thought it all through,” Van Gaal said. “We all thought that Tim Krul was the best keeper to stop penalties. He is taller and has a longer reach. We prepared for the Costa Rica penalties just as we prepared for our own penalties.”

In the semifinals, the Netherlands will face Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates in Sao Paulo on Wednesday.

Although Krul made the decisive stops in the shoot-out, it was Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas that was the star of the match.

Navas made a string of saves to keep the attacking Dutch scoreless for 90 minutes of regulation time and 30 minutes of extra time.

His night, however, will forever be overshadowed by Krul, and by Van Gaal.

“I never saw something like that,” Costa Rica midfielder Celso Borges said of the goalkeeping change. “But they were right, he did his job.”

Van Gaal has made several inspired changes at this year’s World Cup in the team’s five straight wins. He brought on Klaas Jan Huntelaar against Mexico and the Schalke striker had an assist and scored a stoppage-time penalty to win 2-1.

Against Chile, midfielder Leroy Fer scored within a minute of coming on to break a 0-0 deadlock. Another substitute, Memphis Depay, scored the second in the 2-0 victory.

On Saturday, Navas had kept his team in the match with some excellent saves. And when Wesley Sneijder twice beat him late in regulation and again in the second half of extra time, the woodwork made the stop.

Sneijder hit the post with a free kick in the 80th minute and then sent a curling shot over Navas and off the crossbar before the penalty shoot-out.

At the end, however, Navas could not stop any of the four Dutch penalties as veterans Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt all scored.

“Of course you want to stop the penalty,” Navas said. “But they shot better and I could not stop them.”

Navas couldn’t, but Krul could.

“Tim stopped two penalties,” Van Gaal said, “and it doesn’t get better than that.”

Rescue mission

Not even Navas could rescue Costa Rica this time.

The goalkeeper who made so many wonderful saves in this World Cup was outclassed in the penalty shootout that decided the quarterfinal against the Netherlands.

But for 120 minutes — and for most of Costa Rica’s previous four matches at the tournament — Navas simply couldn’t be beat.

In the first half alone Saturday, Navas made four saves that helped earn him the man of the match award, even after the Dutch won a shootout 4-3 after a 0-0 draw marked by 120 minutes of Dutch dominance.

In the 29th minute, Navas denied Memphis Depay with his boot.

Ten minutes later his diving, one-handed, effort to swat away a free kick from Wesley Sneijder would have stood as the save of the night if Krul had not stopped two Costa Rica penalties in the shoot-out.

And there were plenty more saves, too, all the way through extra time.

But in the shoot-out, the Netherlands converted all four of their spot kicks.

Still, that shouldn’t cast a shadow on what Navas did against Uruguay, Italy and England in the group stage — or on the class he displayed against Greece and the Netherlands for 120 minutes in the knockout stages.

It was largely thanks to Navas and an impenetrable defence that Costa Rica reached the last eight for the first time.

In five matches Navas conceded a tournament-low two goals and he couldn’t be blamed for either of them.

The first was a penalty kick from Edinson Cavani in Costa Rica’s opening 3-1 win over Uruguay and the second was a rebound effort from Sokratis Papastathopoulos in the penalty shoot-out win over Greece in the Round of 16, which ended 1-1 after 120 minutes.

Papastathopoulos scored only after Navas had stopped a shot from Theofanis Gekas with a diving effort — with Costa Rica down to 10 men. Then, in the ensuing shoot-out for that game, Navas made the only save, diving to swat away Gekas’ attempt.

While the 27-year-old Navas may not have been well known until his run here, he recently enjoyed one of the best seasons of any goalkeeper in the Spanish league.

Navas was credited with a La Liga-best 160 saves for Levante during his most recent club season. He had 16 clean sheets and allowed 39 goals, meaning he stopped a La Liga-best 80.1 per cent of the shots he faced.

No wonder Levante had offers for Navas from European runner-up Atletico Madrid even before the World Cup began. Now, though, Navas’ transfer fee could well have doubled.