郁金香是否会在非洲大陆盛开?

自1998年世界杯闯入四强之后，在接下来的两届世界杯中，荷兰队的表现都不尽人意。然而谁也没想到，在本次南非世界杯，荷兰队却一路高歌猛进，以六连胜的战绩杀入世界杯决赛，并将于7月11日参加约翰内斯堡的决赛！或许，对于万千荷兰球迷来说，这个7月郁金香将在非洲大陆第一次盛开。

Ecstatic Netherlands fans celebrated on Tuesday evening as their national team made it through to their first World Cup final since 1978 on Tuesday (6th July), following a 3-2 victory over Uruguay in Cape Town.

"We feel very, very good now we are going to the finals. What's better? What's better?"

Fans of the ‘Oranje' at the stadium and back at home in Amsterdam leapt for joy as Bert van Marwijk's side registered their sixth straight victory of the competition - the Netherlands now have the chance to win a first world title after bitter defeats at the final hurdle in both the 1974 and 1978 tournaments.

But it was a different story for fans of Uruguay's ‘Sky Blues'. The last South American representatives in South Africa bowed out with their heads held high though - it was the furthest they had been in a World Cup since 1970.　

"We fought, they won, but they won because they were lucky, not because they played that well. Uruguay played very well."

The square of Museumplein in the centre of the city was turned into a sea of orange as tens of thousands of football fans turned out to watch their team on a massive screen.

The Dutch fans soon had reason to celebrate as Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored a brilliant opener from distance in the 18th minute.

Although Diego Forlan replied with a spectacular equalizer just before half time, two goals in three minutes from Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben around the seventy minute mark took the game beyond Uruguay.

In Montevideo, thousands of Uruguay fans packed into the main square, where the game was being shown on another giant screen.

Their dream of reaching a first World Cup final since they won the second of their two titles in 1950, turned to dust with the Sneijder-Robben double blow.
In Cape Town after the match, excited Dutch fans streamed out of the stadium and gave their thoughts on how the match went.

"Yeah, I mean, surprisingly strong, I won't lie, the game was dull at times and Uruguay really did pull through at the end. Of course, the mighty orange people pulled through all the way to the end which was amazing."

However, Uruguay supporters could not conceal their disappointment. Martin Vargara, travelled all the way from Montevideo with his father to watch the match.

"It's going to be difficult for us, but being fair, nobody thought Uruguay would make it to this stage. So everyone will be content. We came here and lost, we didn't make it to the final."

Uruguay will be playing in the third and fourth place play-off which takes place on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

The Netherlands, taking on either Spain or Germany, will be one of the teams heading for Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, the venue for Sunday's final.