Seemingly in control at the interval, Brazil had cause to rue a catastrophic 20-minute period in the second half of their quarter-final with the Netherlands at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday. Conceding two goals and having a man sent off in that time, Dunga's men saw their dreams of a sixth FIFA World Cup™ evaporate, their seemingly unstoppable campaign derailed by the opportunistic and indefatigable Dutch.
The Brazilian juggernaut looked to be running smoothly in the opening 45 minutes, the South Americans largely dominating proceedings and taking an early lead through Robinho. With the men in orange making little headway, the South Americans looked well in control of their own destiny. The pattern of the game would change irrevocably eight minutes after the break, however, when Felipe Melo inadvertently glanced a curling Wesley Sneijder cross past the advancing Julio Cesar.
"The goal was a big break for us and it changed everything," Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst told FIFA. "It couldn't have come at a better time, and it gave us fresh impetus. Our confidence just grew and grew from then on and we knew we could do it. When we equalised you only had to look at the guys celebrating on the bench to see that the whole squad could sense this was going to be our day. We never lost our faith because we knew they were beatable, but to get that goal back so quickly after the break was the turning point for us."
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