For both sides, there is nothing like consolation. Louis van Gaal and Felipe Scolari came into the FIFA World Cup to win the trophy but they experienced heartbreaks in the semis. The Dutch were close to reaching the final but Argentina’s strong defence denied them from hitting the back of the net after 120 minutes. In the penalty shoot-outs, the Oranje ended up being the losing side.
Things were far less tight between Brazil and World Cup 2014 finalists Germany. A six-goal gap in the final score line plunged the country into total humiliation. While Scolari faces calls to be sacked, he still has a chance to narrowly repair the damaged caused in Wednesday’s 7-1 defeat to the DFB Eleven.
“We have a deal with the CBF until the game on Saturday and after that, probably, we will have a conversation to sort some things out,” the 65-year-old told the press.
“The tournament was not all bad. We had a bad defeat. With all the difficulties we reached the semi-finals. We are a hard-working team, we win together and lose together.
“I cannot explain. I will not justify. An error occurred and this error was fatal. If I could explain what happened in those six minutes, I would answer. But I do not know.
“We can lose by one or two but we lost in a way that we had never done before in the history of Brazilian football.”
Bronze medals are at stake on Saturday but it is not clear what kind of performance the public must expect – between a dull game and one full of desire for each side to bounce back. Less used players may be given the opportunity to start as Brazil and the Netherlands both look forward to a new world challenge in Russia 2018.
Brazil vs Netherlands TV schedule: live stream, live scores, TV channels
Watch Brazil vs Netherlands live on Saturday, July 12, 2014:
In USA at 16:00 EST: ESPN Deportes+, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPN Radio, Futbol de Primera Radio, ESPN, Univision USA, Univision Deportes En Vivo, ESPN3 Online-App, SiriusXM FC, WATCH ESPN, Univision Deportes USA, ESPN Deportes
In Canada at 16:00 EST: ICI Radio-Canada En Direct, TLN, CBC Sports Live Streaming, CBC, Radio Canada - CBC, Univision Canada, Mediaset Italia
In UK at 21:00 BST: The ITV Player, TalkSport Radio, ITV 1 UK, BBC Radio 5 Live, UTV, STV Scotland
In Australia at 6:00 AET: SBS One Australia, SBS Radio 3, SBS Radio 4
If you live in India, Nepal, Nigeria, Germany, Mexico, Brazil or any other country, please visit our Brazil-Netherlands match page which features exclusively compiled TV listings for 345 locations around the globe!
