Hard to believe that Mexico is complaining about penalties when Moreno broke his damn leg tackling Robben in the box in the first half. The Penalty that was given was also fair in my opinion as Marquez clearly came down on the foot or Robben which directly caused him to lose possession, even if his fall was theatrical. Robben's second penalty claim as well as the high foot from Vlaar/De Vrij were not penalties in my opinion.
Though i'm sure the heat and humidity effected the game plan from both teams I do not think Louis van Gaal got his tactics right. He continues to start with a very defensive 5-3-2 approach with little to no pressing, instead soaking up pressure from the opponent and defending deep. If there is one thing this Holland team cannot do it is this, and indeed, they have fallen behind in 3 of their 4 games thus far while looking second best to each of Spain, Australia and Mexico initially. Except for the Chile match the Dutch defense has continually looked shaky and I think they have been lucky ultimately not to concede more goals based on the number of opportunities they have given away.
In the last three games Holland has looked far superior when LvG changes his formation to include width and an extra attacking player and they begin to dominate the midfield, both relieving pressure off the beleaguered back line as well as creating more service for Arjen Robben and RvP/Lens/Huntelaar. This begs the question of why he doesn't just begin with this formation in the first place when you are facing a team like Australia/Chile/Mexico who do not have a huge advantage in midfield (like Spain has). Holland's strength is in their front line and they should do everything they can to give them the ball so they can produce. After Spain ran into the knife in the first game with a suicidal high line no one else will play against Holland like that and indeed service to Arjen Robben/Robin van Persie was non existent in the game against Mexico. I hope LvG plays a more standard Dutch 4-3-3 with Robben/Depay/RvP for the game against Costa Rica and tries to dictate play rather then sit back and soak up pressure which they clearly cannot do.
