Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal has admitted that he used the World Cup's first cooling break to help his side pull off a dramatic victory against Mexico.
Oranje were 1-0 down with just two minutes of time remaining, before Wesley Sneijder's strike and a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar penalty turned the game on its head to send the Dutch into the quarter-finals.
The game in Fortaleza saw FIFA's pre-arranged three-minute breaks midway through each half used for the first time.
"Yes, I used the breaks," Van Gaal is quoted as BBC Sport. "First I had changed from 4-3-3 and then we created a lot of opportunities, the shot on the goalpost and a fantastic save by Ochoa. Then I moved to plan B and yes, I did that in the cooling break that is a clever way of benefiting from these breaks."
The Netherlands will now face the winner of tonight's meeting between Costa Rica and Greece.
Written by
Daniel Lewis
Daniel Lewis
Netherlands
Senegal
Ecuador
Qatar
England
USA
Iran
Wales
Argentina
Poland
Mexico
Saudi Arabia
France
Australia
Tunisia
Denmark
Japan
Spain
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Costa Rica
Morocco
Croatia
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Brazil
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Ghana
