on 18 June 1988 at the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen. The early stages were controlled by the Netherlands, with Bonner being forced to save a strike from Adri van Tiggelen, Erwin Koeman headed wide, McCarthy's tackle denied Van Basten and Ronald Koeman missed an open goal. In the 16th minute, Paul McGrath's header from a corner hit the post before rebounding off Gerald Vanenburg and striking the post again: as Aldridge tried to tap it in, Van Breukelen fell on the ball and gathered it. After half-time, Wouters hit the Republic of Ireland crossbar but in the 83rd minute, the Netherlands took the lead. Wouters' cross was headed out by McGrath and the ball fell to Ronald Koeman who struck the ball goalward but into the ground from around . Kieft turned and diverted the ball past Bonner with his forehead and secured a 1–0 win for the Netherlands, who finished Group 2 in second place, one point behind the Soviet Union. In the semi-finals, the Netherlands opponents were West Germany, with the match being played at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg on 21 June 1988. There were few chances to score for either side in the first half, with Frank Mill's opportunist attempt to intercept Ronald Koeman's backpass being gathered by Van Breukelen. Ten minutes into the second half, West Germany took the lead. Jürgen Klinsmann took the ball past Van Tiggelen and Erwin Koeman before falling under a tackle from Frank Rijkaard inside the Netherlands penalty area. The referee deemed it to be a foul and Lothar Matthäus scored the resulting penalty. With 15 minutes remaining, Van Basten ran into the West Germany box and was tackled by Jürgen Kohler and was awarded the second penalty of the match. Ronald Koeman scored, striking it left as the West Germany goalkeeper Eike Immel dived right. Second-half substitute Pierre Littbarski then saw his inswinging corner cleared off the line by Vanenburg. With less than two minutes remaining, the Netherlands took the lead in what O'Brien describes as "the most cherished moment in their footballing history." Wouters crossed the ball to Van Basten, who outran Kohler, close to the edge of the 18 yard box on the right side of the goal, Van Basten caught the cross on a half volley, looping it over a diving Immel, into the side netting on the left end of the net. With a 2–1 victory, the