AKIPRESS.COM - Regulation and extra time brought 120 minutes of scoreless exasperation in a World Cup semifinal on Wednesday that was by turns tense, cautious, clumsy, gripping and stubbornly unyielding, FIFA said.

There was little space to move, few chances to score. Sometimes the match was as dreary as the misty evening chill. If it possessed any beauty, it was not in gracefulness but in stark, struggling exertion.

And finally, when grind and strain and labor could not bring a resolution, whimsy and caprice did. Argentina defeated the Netherlands by 4-2 on penalty kicks and advanced to Sunday’s final against Germany.

Sergio Romero, Argentina’s goalkeeper, was poised in the shootout, unsettling the Dutch on the very first kick. He dived to his left, parried a shot by defender Ron Vlaar and kissed his gloves. Later, Romero repelled a shot by Wesley Sneijder and pounded his chest.

For Argentina, Lionel Messi, Ezequiel Garay and Sergio Agüero confidently punched their shots into the net. The decisive attempt, by Maxi Rodríguez, was deflected, but it hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the net.