Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder (R) pulls the shirt of Brazil's Daniel Alves as they fight for the ball during their 2010 World Cup quarter-final soccer match in Port Elizabeth July 2, 2010. [Agencies]

Referee Yuichi Nishimura of Japan shows the red card to Brazil's Felipe Melo (2nd L) during the 2010 World Cup quarter-final soccer match against Netherlands in Port Elizabeth July 2, 2010. [Agencies]

PORT ELIZABETH - Wesley Sneijder headed a second-half winner as Netherlands battled back from a goal down to beat 10-man Brazil 2-1 on Friday and secure a place in the World Cup semifinals.

Brazil, the five-times champion, took a 10th-minute lead through Robinho and dominated the first half against a Dutch team that initially looked outclassed.

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But the Dutch leveled out of the blue in the 53rd minute after a rare mistake from Brazil's usually impenetrable defence, as Felipe Melo headed Sneijder's cross into his own goal.

Then Sneijder headed a winner as the Dutch, battling to its 13th successive World Cup win to maintain a perfect record in the qualifiers and finals, avenged a quarterfinal defeat in 1994 and a semifinal defeat four years later.

"In the changing-room at half-time, everyone said to each other 'let's give everything' and that's what we did. We fought for each other," Sneijder told a television reporter after the match.

"In the second half, we put a lot of pressure on their defence and to score twice was fantastic."

He added: "We're in the last four of the world. To beat Brazil 2-1 in the quarterfinal, you have to be pleased with that. But in the next days, we will have to get our heads in focus again."

Brazil was left shocked by the defeat.

"We are all extremely sad and we didn't expect it. We were not able to maintain the same rhythm in the second half," Brazil's coach Dunga told a post-match news conference.

Brazil had started brightly with Felipe Melo, returning from an ankle injury that kept him out of the second-round match against Chile, setting up the first goal after 10 minutes of the clash at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

He threaded a 30-meter pass through the Dutch midfield and Robinho timed his run perfectly to score with a first-time shot past Maarten Stekelenburg.

The Dutch rarely threatened with Arjen Robben far too predictable to outfox the Brazil rearguard.

But they leveled out of the blue eight minutes after the break when Felipe Melo touched Sneijder's looping cross-shot into his own net.

Kaka missed an excellent chance to put Brazil back ahead, side-footing wide from the edge of the area after the ball was gifted to him by a poor clearance.

They paid dearly in the 68th minute when Dirk Kuyt flicked on Robben's corner at the near post and Sneijder headed into the net.

Shortly afterwards, Melo was sent off for stamping on Robben.

"If you play with only 10 players against a quality team like Holland then it makes it difficult," Dunga said.

Reuters