A joyful Lionel Messi, celebrating his second World Cup semifinals ever. — AFP/VNA Photo

Anh Đức

HÀ NỘI — The first two quarterfinals ties brought spectators around the world to the edge of their seat.

Croatia, trailing 1-0 against Brazil with two minutes left in extra time, found an unlikely equaliser to take the match to penalties.

The number one team in the world had no one else to blame but themselves for letting the game get dragged to a penalty shootout, where Croatia have never lost.

Dominik Livakovic was again Croatia's hero. The former college graduate-turned-goalkeeper made eight saves during 90 minutes to deny Selecão's star-studded attack.

Croatia played tit-for-tat against Brazil, even closely matching Neymar and co.'s possession percentage. The locomotive behind their success? The energetic plays of 2018 Ballon D'or winner Luka Modric.

Nevertheless, Brazil were the better team in attack, creating 19 shots during the full 120 minutes. Tite and the Brazillians hoped for a miracle, and a superstar came down answering their prayers.

In the 105th minute, Neymar's one-two with Lucas Paqueta made him through on goal, and the PSG striker dribbled through every Croatian defender, putting the ball in Livakovic's net from a very close angle.

Neymar equalled Pelé's 77 goal record for Brazil in the process. He and his teammates smiled after the first goal as if the game was in the bag.

But the smiles ceased three minutes before the end of extra time. 

From Vladimir Orsic's cross, Bruno Petkovic hit the ball first time to equalise, in what was Croatia's only shot on target this match and brought the game to penalties.

From the 11-metre spot, again all four Croatian players succeeded, while young Rodrygo Goes and veteran Marquinhos's shots were saved by Livakovic. Croatia won the match 4-2 on penalties and progressed to their second consecutive semifinal.

The Netherlands' comeback was even more stunning, as they were losing 2-0 before the 83rd minute, but Wout Weghorst became the unlikely hero with a brace in the final ten minutes. However, Die Oranje did not have the outcome they wanted.

Lionel Messi, in his "last dance" according to media, was Argentina's heart this match. At age 35, the Argentinian chose to play deeper to create plays for the team, but still retained his trademark qualities.

In the 35th minute, Messi dribbled past Nathan Ake, and made a great through ball for Nahuel Molina, who beat Andries Noppert in a one-on-one to open the score for Argentina.

After the opener, the game got even more physical, as five yellow cards were handed by referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz in the first half.

Louis Van Gaal's team kept on pressing in the second half and made Argentina more careful in their plays.

However, La Albiceleste found a chance to double their lead in the 73rd minute, when Denzel Dumfries brought down Marcos Acuna inside the penalty area. Mahoz quickly pointed to the spot, where Lionel Messi took the responsibility and successfully delivered.

When Van Gaal brought on Wout Weghorst and Luuk De Jong, he switched to a play many jokingly dubbed "Total Longball". A quirky, gnarly playstyle but brought Holland what they needed.

In the 83rd minute, Weghorst caught Berghuis' cross and headed the ball powerfully, cutting the Netherlands' deficit down to one goal.

If Argentina have a genius in the form of Messi, Holland has one in Teun Koopmeiners. In the final seconds of added time, Koopmeiners' clever pass from a free kick found Weghorst free in the box.

The Argentinians were stunned. Everybody thought that Koopmeiners was going to shoot directly, but not Weghorst. The 1.97 metres tall striker powered past Enzo Fernandez, before beating Emiliano Martinez for the second time in twenty minutes.

Argentina pushed on forward in extra time, hoping to avoid penalties, but was deterred by luck and Van Dijk.

But the Liverpool defender, wearing the Dutch's captain armband, failed his first shot in the penalty shootout, with Emi Martinez playing the spoiler.

Martinez saved the second Dutch penalty from Steven Berghuis, and although Enzo Fernandez failed Argentina's fourth, Paredes, Montiel and Messi succeeded to bring Argentina to the semifinal on Wednesday, where they will face Croatia. — VNS