Netherlands 2-1 Argentina: World Cup 1998 quarter-final – as it happened (2024)

That was a sensational contest. Both teams gave it everything and it was decided in the end by a moment of genius, Dennis Bergkamp’s stunning strike earning Holland a place in the last four. They’ll fancy their chances of going all the way now. Beating a team as good as Argentina is no mean feat. But they’ll have to be on it when they face another set of South American giants – the holders, Brazil, who’ve got the brilliant young forward Ronaldo leading their attack. Many believe Ronaldo will come to define this World Cup. Bergkamp might have other ideas, though. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye!

PEEP! PEEP! PEEP! THAT’S IT! HOLLAND WILL PLAY BRAZIL IN THE SEMI-FINALS AFTER EDGING A SUPERB GAME. WHY AM I SHOUTING. DENNIS BERGKAMP IS WHY I’M SHOUTING. WHAT A PLAYER. ARIEL ORTEGA, THOUGH. WHAT A PLAYER. BUT WHAT AN IDIOT. ARGENTINA CAN’T BELIEVE THEY’RE OUT.

90 min+4: Argentina are still pressing and there’s a heart-in-mouth moment as Sensini collects Batistuta’s meek volley from the edge of the area and tries to score with an overhead kick … but the effort is weak and straight at Van der Sar. That should be that.

90 min+2: Jose Chamot comes off and Argentina throw on the veteran striker, Abel Balbo. But it’s Holland on the attack, the man of the moment, Bergkamp, releasing Davids down the right. He clips the ball to the far post, but Kluivert can only nod over the bar.

90 min+1: There will be four minutes of stoppage time. Argentina couldn’t, could they? That was sensational from Bergkamp. The greatest ever in a World Cup?

Diego Maradona against England in 1986 multiplied by Marco Van Basten against USSR in 1988 divided by Michael Owen against Argentina this week = this goal, one of the greatest that will ever be scored in any football match at any time in any place. It all started with an Argentina attack, Lopez’s cross from the left drifting over the unmarked Batistuta in the middle. With no other Argentina players about, Frank De Boer was able to stroll out of defence, bringing the ball up towards the halfway line. Assessing his options, he looked to release the ball, before spotting Bergkamp making a run in the corner of his eye. With that wand of a left foot, he hit a magnificent 70-yard diagonal pass to Bergkamp, who had advanced into the right side of Argentina‘s area. He let the ball drop over his shoulder and what followed were three touches of genius, each with his right foot. The first saw him pluck the ball out of the sky with astonishing elan. With Ayala marking him tightly, he poked the ball inside to wrongfoot the defender, who goes screeching off into the distance like Road Runner, and then, with his third, with greatness beckoning, he toepoked the ball as it bounced up into the top left corner of Roa’s goal from the right corner of the six-yard box. The stadium erupts, Argentina collapse and Bergkamp races away to be mobbed by jubilant, disbelieving team-mates.. He did it so many times for Arsenal last season, but this is the winner in the last minute of a World Cup quarter-final against Argentina. Barring a minor miracle, Holland are through. It’s Rob Rensenbrink in reverse!

88 min: What on earth is Ortega playing at here? For such a brainy player, it’s as if someone just flicked off the switch in his head. In the great pantheon of moronic red cards, this one’s right up there. It was just so pointless. With Argentina pressing, Ortega had the ball on the right of Holland’s area. Faced by Stam, he cut inside, before swiftly jinking outside. Stam hung out his left leg, which was the cue for Ortega to take a preposterous tumble. The referee blew - momentarily it seemed for a penalty - but he then flashed a yellow card in Ortega’s direction. Van der Sar then ran over to remonstrate with the Argentinian for diving. Ortega was still on the floor but having been provoked, he bounced up, intentionally crashing the top of his head against Van der Sar’s chin in the process. Right in front of the referee, who immediately shows him red. Ortega has lost Argentina their numerical advantage. It doesn’t get much more selfish than that.

87 min: It’s all Argentina now. Pineda takes advantage of the acres of space afforded him, before sliding a pass behind the dozing Davids and through to Zanetti on the right side of Holland’s area. He’s got plenty of time and space but, with Batistuta and Lopez waiting in the middle, the cross is dreadful.

85 min: This is getting ridiculous now. On the edge of Holland’s area, Simeone falls ludicrously under a non-existent challenge from De Boer. No free-kick is given but it’s doubtful Argentina are doing much to secure the backing of the neutrals with shameless dives like that. Moments later, Veron has a crack at goal from 30 yards out but it’s straight at Van der Sar.

81 min: Holland are surely going to come under severe pressure now, especially as Veron currently has a grip on midfield. He is setting the tempo for Argentina, dictating play and demanding the ball. Just here, he slipped a delicate pass inside the makeshift left-back, Cocu, for the onrushing Zanetti to chase. He reached it and put the ball into the middle, where Batistuta jumps above De Boer to send a weak header wide of the left post. He’s more Batty than Batigol today.

79 min: What’s encouraging for Holland is that Argentina were clueless when England went down to ten men. Guus Hiddink should adopt the Glenn Hoddle blueprint - squeeze the space in the middle, denying Veron and Ortega space, and force Argentina out wide, where they are extremely uncomfortable.

78 min: Simeone has gone off on a stretcher, but he’ll be back. Oh, he’ll definitely be back. Yes, he’s back. What a surprise. Numan is distraught but has finally gone down the tunnel. Play is yet to restart. The heat will do this to a match. It’s cooking now.

76 min: Yes, just like against England, Simeone is at the centre of controversy again. A penny for David Beckham’s thoughts right now. To be fair, Holland can have few complaints about this and it’s no surprise that it’s come from another Argentina counterattack. Numan might blame Davids for the referee’s decision though, because just before he made his tackle, the midfielder had clattered into Veron on the halfway line. Advantage was played, but once Simeone got to the loose ball, Numan chopped him down, his victim flying through the air and writhing in agony. He’s probably not hurt but it was a cynical foul, despite Holland’s protestations. Sensini is enthusiastically applauding the decision.

74 min: Numan crosses towards the penalty area but Bergkamp had to backtrack to reach it and he was off balance as he nodded tamely wide left.

72 min: There goes Numan again. He’s on his last legs but gets to a long ball and hooks in a cross that Ayala flicks behind. Bergkamp’s corner is poor, though. Argentina take advantages of the gaps in Holland’s defence again on the counter. The danger looks to have been averted by Holland, until Veron nips the ball away from Overmars just outside his own area. The ball diverts to Batistuta but just as he’s about to pull the trigger, play is brought back for a foul on Overmars. The referee took his sweet time making his mind up about that one.

71 min: Great defending by Frank De Boer. Lopez escaped down the left, reaching a fine pass from the excellent Veron. Faced by Reiziger, Lopez produced a sweet toe-poked cross with his left, which was destined for the head of Batistuta until De Boer raced back, stretching every muscle in his neck to get his head to the ball and nod in back to Van der Sar. A potentially game-saving intervention.

68 min: Change for Argentina: Mauricio Pineda replaces Matias Almeyda.

67 min: Cocu has a go from 30 yards out. The supporters behind the Argentina goal now have a souvenir to take home.

65 min: The pace of Overmars is causing trouble already. A long, raking pass from Stam located him deep on the right. He made a complete fool of Simeone, leaving him befuddled and red-faced on the turf with a sumptuous turn, before digging out a delightful cross, which Kluivert headed goalwards, Roa acrobatically leaping backwards to turn his effort over the bar. Like Batistuta before him, Kluivert can’t believe it. Bergkamp takes the corner from the right and again it’s a free header for Stam, arriving late, but his downward header bounces harmlessly wide. He actually should have scored that. This is a fascinating game.

64 min: Argentina get past the halfway line! And what do you know, no sooner do they show some ambition, they hit the post for the second time in the match! Veron leads the counter, running some distance with the ball unchallenged, before finding Batistuta, who’s peeled off to the right. With Holland’s defence completely exposed, a superb first touch with his right foot takes him into the area and past Frank De Boer. His second isn’t too shabby either, an absolute piledriver with his left foot that screams on to the inside of the left post. That was all the more remarkable because Batistuta has been completely invisible, but he only needs one moment to change the game (although he needs another one now). Holland respond with their first substitution, Overmars on for Ronald De Boer.

63 min: The ball has been in Argentina’s half for roughly ten minutes now. This is astonishing and impressive from Holland in equal measure. Now Davids lets Chamot know that Holland are no longer granting Argentina the time they want, a firm but fair tackle robbing him of possession. The ball runs loose for Kluivert and again he looks for Bergkamp, whose weak shot on the turn on the edge of the area is blocked by Ayala.

62 min: Kluivert lopes inside from the right, casually evading a string of tackles before trying to poke the ball through to Bergkamp, the ball getting stuck in the thicket of Argentina defenders. This isn’t the right tactic for Holland. It has rarely come off today; they’re enjoying success mainly down the flanks and should be careful not to get bogged down in the middle, which is where Argentina are strongest.

60 min: Throw-in to Holland on the right. Ronald De Boer throws it square to Bergkamp, who drops the shoulder to lose his marker, before letting the ball run across his body and loop a volley down the throat of Roa from the edge of the area. Fifteen minutes played in the second half and Argentina have barely touched the ball yet. Numan has Ortega in his pocket. “I‘m down in the shaded corner of the Stade Vélodrome having drawn the tastiest tie of the quarter-finals with my pre-bought ticket allocation,” Justin Kavanagh says. “Though I’m taking a fair bit of stick in my Orange shirt from some beefy looking Argeninian gents around me, one of whom assures me that “When I wear my lucky shirt, my friend, Argentina has never lost.” I’ll take his word for it.”

59 min: Now Sensini has a yellow card. That’s come out of the blue and no one’s sure what happened. Maybe the referee has belatedly decided to book him for one of his many earlier offences

58 min: Unlucky. Jonk’s pea-shooter of a pass somehow squeezes out to the left for Bergkamp, who quickly looks to slip the ball through Kluivert to run on to. Unfortunately they weren’t on the same wavelength. Moments later, a gorgeous pass from Bergkamp rips Argentina apart and sets Numan clear. He crashes into the area but with Kluivert waiting for the cutback he takes too long to decide what to do and Sensini cuts the pass out when it’s eventually played. Kluivert admonishes Numan.

56 min: Davids steams into the back of Ortega. He’s trying to bully him out of the game - this is an intriguing battle. Someone’s fuse is going to blow eventually.

55 min: Boudewijn Zenden and Marc Overmars are warming up for Holland, who are presumably thinking about how they can stretch Argentina, who are relatively susceptible to pace.

54 min: It’s all Holland. The tempo is much better. Argentina can’t get out.

53 min: Holland are winning a succession of corners and this time Veron has to deflect Cocu’s left-wing cross behind. Jonk takes the corner again and Argentina get an almighty escape as the cross skims off the heads off everyone at the near post and comes to the unmarked Kluivert, who fluffs his lines in front of goal, the ball bouncing apologetically to a relieved Roa.

51 min: Jonk curls it in and Sensini gives Stam a sly nudge in the back to put him off-balance as he looked to direct a header towards goal. Argentina clear, but they’re slightly on the rack - until Numan squanders Holland’s momentum with an aimless long ball that drifts out for a goal-kick.

50 min: Numan finds space on the left again, but Sensini blocks his cross behind for a corner.

49 min: It’s pretty tight. Engrossingly edgy. It hasn’t got going yet, although there’s plenty of attacking intent, with both Holland full-backs getting forward encouragingly. Numan charges up the left and fires in a cross which is just too high for Bergkamp in the middle. The ball falls to Chamot on the edge of the six-yard box, but he shanks a dismal clearance straight to Kluivert on the edge of the area. The ball sits up invitingly for him to strike, but he can’t control.

47 min: Argentina will probably want to finish this inside the 90 - they have played extra-time and Holland have had an extra day’s rest. Ortega dinks a ball through to Veron on the left side of the area, and Frank De Boer carelessly concedes a corner with a loose touch. Lopez whips it in and Cocu rises imperiously above Batistuta to head clear.

46 min: Off we go again. 45 more minutes and we may know who will face Brazil in the semi-finals of the World Cup. Holland take the kick-off and we’re up and running, until Jonk fouls Veron needlessly. An inauspicious start.

“You keep mentioning how Stam is having a shocker,” Philip West says. “Looking at the alternatives do you think Ferguson is watching this and wondering about Veron?He looks like someone who would thrive in the Premiership? What do you think?”

You could be right. Veron has been brilliant in Serie A and Manchester United could possibly do with strengthening in midfield after their collapse last season. And is Roy Keane going to be the same player when he returns from his knee injury?

Peep! Peep! The half-time whistle blows, the end to a fine, open first half of football.

45 min +1: Van der Sar stood still. He watched, he prayed and he breathed a sigh of relief. This was all down to excellent foraging from the marauding Zanetti, who darted in from the right flank, bothering several Holland defenders on the edge of the area. He was unable to work space for the shot so offloaded it to Batistuta instead. With his back to goal, he then passed the ball left to Simeone, who smashed a first-time shot with his right foot that whistled just wide. What an effort.

45 min: Another free-kick to Argetina; another foul on Ortega, this time by Ronald De Boer on the right touchline. Ortega does go down very easily. “Twenty years ago it wasn’t that much of a stretch to imagine it could have been Scotland playing in the World Cup final,” Simon McMahon says. “I hope I’m wrong, but after the disastrous performance against Morocco in the final group match, and with an ageing squad and manager, I fear it could be at least another twenty years before we even make the finals again. And only then if they include about 48 teams.”

44 min: Again Stam fails to convince and he can count himself highly fortunate not to have received a second yellow card for a clumsy lunge to halt another scintillating run by Ortega 25 yards from goal. That’s very lenient by the referee and kind of inconsistent too. Argentina do have a free-kick, though, and this is not too dissimilar a situation to the one England faced on Tuesday night, where a splendidly sneaky set-piece set up Zanetti for the equaliser. Batistuta takes a long run-up and then, well, they’ve got a whole catalogue of pre-planned ideas up their sleeves. He runs straight over the ball and on into the area, allowing Veron to chip it to an Simeone player on the edge of the area. He looks to head it on to Batistuta, but the execution is wrong.

41 min: Unless it’s a David Batty penalty, Roa seems very dodgy indeed. He was all at sea here, as Jonk clipped a cute pass down the inside-right channel for Bergkamp, who dinked a teasing cross which took a nick off Sensini and spooned up into the middle. For a moment it appeared it would loop over Roa and into the net, but instead it drifts across goal, with the goalkeeper contenting himself with a strange scamper around his six-yard box. He really didn’t know what he was up to there.

40 min: A lull. It’s not exactly end-to-end but what’s interesting is the way that control of possession is swinging to and fro, as if both teams are playing only in five-minute bursts, perhaps a tactic designed to deal with the heat. Naturally Davids is the one who gets frustrated with Argentina’s pretty patterns in the end, and, growling, wrestles and bumps the unfortunate Almeyda to the floor on halfway. I’m only watching this on a television, but I’m a bit worried Davids is going to leap out of the screen and throttle me for control of the remote.

38 min: Ortega hits the post! On the left touchline, Veron collected the clearing header from the corner before it went out. He found Ortega with a pass inside and with Davids nowhere to be sen for once, the slouching playmaker lets fly with a brilliant right-footer from 25 yards that screams past Van der Sar and cracks on to the left post . This is turning into a brilliant game. Shortly afterwards, after a Holland foray comes to nought, Argentina break at speed again, Lopez always the willing outlet on the left. Once more, he outstrips the cumbersome Stam - £10m well spent by Manchester United there, it seems - but his cutback is a waste, miscued straight to Van der Sar with Batistuta hanging back just outside the six-yard box. Worryingly for United, Stam is being made to look one-paced here.

35 min: Holland are on top now and their main man, Ronald De Boer, his quick feet a joy to watch, slaloms in from the right before laying the ball back to Jonk, whose swerving shot is beaten aside by Roa. It was straight at the goalkeeper but not for the first time he decided to beat it away rather than hold on to it. Corner. Jonk overhits it.