Netherlands will accept challenge from the underdog Costa Rica on Saturday's second quarter-finals match in FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil. As the overwhelming favorites, Netherlands are confident of winning the championship after thrashing reigning champions Spain 5-1 in Group B opener. The Oranje will return to their triumph scene at Arena Fonta Nova to face off with the Los Ticos, who also have defied expectations by beating former World Cup champions Uruguay and Italy and to have progressed so far.Watch the free live stream below.
Netherland vs. Costa Rica game will begin at 1 p.m. PST on Saturday, July 5, 2014, and will be televised live through ESPN network. The match also can be watched online through WatchESPN free live stream at the links below (free for cable subscribers).
Four years ago, Netherlands fell at the finals to Spain in South Africa, but this time around they have tested their determination as show by their team spirit and defensive resolve by beating Spain, Australia 3-2, Chile 2-0, and Mexico 2-1. The team's coach Louis van Gaal exudes a confidence that Netherlands will get through Saturday's last-eight clash in Salvador.
Some are saying that Netherlands are feeling under pressure given Costa Rica have nothing to lose. Yet, the Dutch coach has a different message for the public.
"The Dutch media did not expect that we would get this far either.... Everything we are achieving now should be fantastic for the Dutch media, but that is not the issue," Van Gaal, who will take the reins at Manchester United after the World Cup, said, according to FIFA.com. "The issue is our own objectives, our goal. Our goal has always been to become world champions and we have already said we are a team which is very difficult to beat."
Netherland boasts of some of the world best players, including captain Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben.
Costa Rica have already defied expectations and showed their wins are not just flukes. After beating Uruguay and Italy, and drawing with England, they continued in the same vein by edging out UEFA EURO 2004 victors Greece on penalties. Upon such progress, Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez, who remarked: "I don't know what Costa Rica's limit is."
Their Captain Bryan Ruiz, 28, said how in the last winning match against Greece, he felt that he was "really dead," overcome by cramps in his calves and thighs, but his teammates did the unexpected, showing their will by throwing themselves into every tackle. "They just kept running and the work they did was incredible," he said.
"Maybe in a few months this will all sink in, but for right now we're just trying to enjoy what we're living," he said, as his team has shocked the world and continued to record national history in progressing this far into the World Cups.
"We have nothing to lose," Ruiz added, showing a hunger for more and wider smiles, according to FIFA.com reports. "We've come so far and done so much, but we want more. We want to continue on and see how far this can go."
Netherlands vs. Costa Rica free live stream can be watched online through ESPN.
