Robben’s artistry fires up wide range of emotions
One of the world’s best players often reviled for inclination to hit the ground
He has long been a polarizing figure, has Arjen Robben.
Globally hailed for his close ball control, a virtually unmatched ability to weave his way through defenders, the ball seemingly duct-taped to that lethal left boot.
This is a marvellous player. Among the dozen best to be found on the planet.
Yet so often branded a cheat, a villain, a scoundrel outside Dutch (and Bavarian) borders for a penchant to hit the ground with appalling frequency, and in a highly florid manner.
Well, on a sweltering, 30 C afternoon in Fortaleza, not a wisp of cloud in the sky, with a place in the quarter-finals in the balance, Robben was on the deck again. Flying through the air, arms outstretched in an exaggerated pinwheeling motion, mouth open wider than a blowfish’s. It was a bit much. It was also a penalty. Ironically, he and Rafael Marquez had tangled in injury time of the first half but nothing, quite rightly, was given.
“I must apologize,” a contrite Robben acknowledged afterwards. “The one (at the end) was a penalty, but the other one was a dive in the first half. “I shouldn’t be doing that.” No, he shouldn’t. But he does. Repeatedly.
However, a courageous Mexico will believe they frittered away a fantastic opportunity. And they’d be right. But the better side does not always win. The Netherlands won 2-1.
They’re also howling about the injustice of that late penalty call. And they’d be wrong. Although given Robben’s loathsome reputation, a certain degree of caterwauling is completely understandable.
“It seems to me,” grumbled Mexico’s colourful boss, Miguel Herrera, “that it was the referee, the man with the whistle, he (should be) left outside the next stage of the World Cup. The first goal was good, it came on an omission on our part. But if the referee starts marking faults that don’t exist and then at the end he invents a penalty of that size ...
“I repeat in four matches we played, in three of them we had referees against Mexico. Two goals (called off) against Cameroon, two penalties against Croatia and today a penalty against us.
“I think this gentleman should go home just like us.”
The Netherlands were certainly ripe for the shipping out. Where throughout round-robin play the Dutch had seemed rock-solid, resolute, but at Estadio Castelao they were plodding.
Their ballast in midfield, the ferocious Nigel de Jong, hobbled off early, Robin van Persie struggled in vain to find a way into the game and Mexico’s blistering pace kept them off balance throughout.
“Let me tell you that the Dutch media never thought we would survive the first round, so how we ended up becoming a favourite. ... I don’t believe it,” manager Louis van Gaal said.
“This group of players are very modest and this path that we’ve embarked on will continue. I think we have an outstanding team spirit and atmosphere and that has led to this victory.”
No, van Gaal’s side certainly didn’t have much of anything going over 87 minutes. Dirk Kuyt’s tireless industry down the right, for one. And Robben.
Only Robben could’ve won the penalty that confined the Mexicans to the door marked “Exit.”
Powering his way to the byline, slamming on the blinders at the white paint, keeping the ball in play, he then nimbly skipped past Mexico’s captain, Marquez, who instinctively stuck out a foot in protest. Robben tumbled. Without hesitation Portu- guese referee Pedro Proenca pointed to the spot.
Klaas Jan Huntelaar, on for the dreadfully disappointing van Persie, stroked the spot kick low into the corner in the 95th minute.
“Usually I am comfortable taking the penalty,” Robben said. “But this time, I was the one who was tackled. It was his moment. He deserved this. I’m almost crying from the emotions. The feeling is so strong, we want to win this, to fight together.
“These youngsters ... I am so proud.”
Just when it seemed that the Dutch would wilt in the heat, capitulate to more elasticized Mexican legs, Wesley Sneijder picked up the leftovers of a muddled corner kick and lashed the ball past ’keeper Guillermo Ochoa in the 88th minute.
Then, as added time wound down, Robben’s byline dash to destiny.
Saturday at Belo Horizonte against the pesky Chileans, the Brazilian wonder boys survived a nasty scare. Sunday, it was the Dutch’s turn to narrowly avoid disaster.
After their artful escape, the Netherlands’ once apparently unassailable march to the July 13 final doesn’t seem quite so set in stone. But for as long as they do stick around in this tournament, hero-villain Arjen Robben will doubtless be at the heart of it all.
Weaving and twisting, polarizing and tumbling, alternately enthralling and enraging as he goes.