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Dutch down Brazil to finish third at World Cup

Jul 13, 2014 - 3:00 AM Brasilia, Brazil (SportsNetwork.com) - Brazil's World Cup ended in disappointing fashion as the host nation suffered a 3-0 loss in Saturday's third-place match at the Estadio Nacional.

The Selecao failed to reach the finale after they were thrashed by Germany, 7-1, in Tuesday's semifinal, a match that saw Die Mannschaft grab a five-goal lead inside the opening 29 minutes.

It looked as if Brazil was doomed for another embarrassing defeat when the Dutch scored twice in the opening 16 minutes through Robin van Persie's third- minute penalty and Daley Blind's first international goal.

Luiz Felipe Scolari's men regrouped and limited the damage to avoid another humiliating scoreline, but Georginio Wijnaldum managed to tack on a late goal to cap a miserable end to Brazil's World Cup run.

The Netherlands took advantage of the frantic pace early on when Van Persie released Arjen Robben through on goal by splitting Thiago Silva and David Luiz with a well-weighted pass, but Silva tracked back and tugged the Bayern Munich man to the ground from behind, resulting in a penalty that Van Persie converted by smashing the ensuing attempt into the upper corner.

While Silva was certainly guilty of an infraction, replays showed that the initial contact occurred outside of the box. The Dutch also had an axe to grind with referee Djamel Haimoudi as Silva, who was shown a yellow card for the foul, managed to avoid an ejection for denying Robben a clear scoring opportunity.

Things went from bad to worse for Brazil as Blind doubled the deficit 13 minutes later.

A well-worked move down the right flank resulted in a cross that Luiz inexplicably headed directly into the danger area. It fell to an unmarked Blind, who took two touches to settle before hammering a shot into the roof of the net with his weaker right foot.

Brazil's best scoring chance of the opening period came 10 minutes before the intermission when Oscar's free kick was nearly met by Paulinho in a good position, but Wijnaldum managed to nod the delivery out for a corner kick to help preserve the clean sheet.

The host nation experienced more misfortune in the 68th minute when Oscar went down in the box under a challenge from Blind, but the Chelsea man was given a yellow card for simulation, the first caution issued for diving in the tournament.

The contest petered out until stoppage time when the Dutch, not satisfied with their two-goal lead, sealed Brazil's fate with a late strike. Daryl Janmaat found space on the right flank and made it to the endline before squaring a pass into the box where Wijnaldum was arriving to lash a shot past Julio Cesar at the near post.