tHIS World Cup has bubbled since day one, and this was the game when it almost came to the boil.

The Netherlands' progression to the quarter-finals was far from the best game of Brazil 2014 but it was certainly the hottest, and the one played in the most unforgiving conditions. Sympathy for Mexico came not only because they were eliminated from the tournament at the same stage as in all of their last six World Cups but because they had been subjected to the sort of conditions known to ants being fried under a naughty schoolboy's magnifying glass. Memo to FIFA: this is what you have reduced the World Cup to in 2022 by sending it to the desert ovens of Qatar.

Fortaleza suffers searing heat because of its location on Brazil's north-east coast and a lunchtime kick-off reduced this to a merciless trial for the Netherlands and Mexico. It was the only one of the knockout ties scheduled for a 1pm start at a northern (and therefore significantly hotter) venue. Even supporters, with the luxury of seats and access to refreshing drinks, fled from their places before the game was half an hour old to stand in shade at the back of Estadio Castelao's stands. The temperature reached 101Ú Fahrenheit and the humidity 70 per cent. After 30 minutes play was stopped for the first official "cooling break" of the World Cup, an innovation introduced to allow players to replace lost body fluids. Like a pair of opportunists, coaches Miguel Herrera and Louis van Gaal took it as a chance impart some tactical wisdom to their players.

Van Gaal had continued with the 3-5-2 system which had brought him some criticism from purists at home - who saw it as essentially a cautious, counter-attacking formation, contrary to their heritage - but had helped the Netherlands score more times than any other team in the group stage. There is much that is impressive about Van Gaal, not least his strength of character. He did change from 3-5-2 when his side were trailing to Mexico's opening goal later in the game and he was rewarded with a spell of sustained pressure from his men, and ultimately the goals which turned around the tie.

There has not yet been a game in which the Netherlands have been consistently excellent in Brazil (even in the 5-1 rout of Spain they looked ordinary for much of the first half-hour) but they have won four out of four, and are resilient and sure of themselves.

After only nine minutes they lost Nigel de Jong, a key player, to injury, but it did not send them into a tailspin. Above all, they have an outstanding matchwinner who is in the form of his career. Arjen Robben spent his day running at Rafael Marquez and the other Mexican defenders: sometimes riding their challenges and outstretched legs, sometimes going down under them. He should have had a penalty towards the end of the first half but did not get it; at the end of the game he threw his legs from under himself at another Marquez challenge, but the defender had made a dumb contact and the referee correctly gave a penalty.

Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa had delivered a heroic performance and for 40 second-half minutes he protected the lead earned by Giovani dos Santos's low shot from the edge of the box. The last 16 had been Mexico's recent glass ceiling. They were quarter-finalists as hosts in 1986 but in all of the last five World Cups they made it out of their group, but no further. Now make that six. They cannot blame anyone but themselves for this one. They were a goal up with only a couple of minutes left in conditions which ought to have suited them better than the Dutch, yet Van Gaal's men applied growing pressure in the final 20 minutes and eventually the dam broke.

Wesley Sneijder has had a quiet tournament as the playmaker behind Robben and Robin van Persie - the latter was substituted just before the game's second cooling break in the second half - but he exploded into the game when he latched on to substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's header from a corner to rifle a ferocious shot and beat Ochoa at last. Mexico had looked composed for most of the game but suddenly they seemed fatalistic, expecting their usual outcome. When Robben went down and the penalty was given it was Huntelaar who showed terrific nerve to bury a flawless penalty in the corner.

It was a shame to lose Ochoa from the tournament, and in Dos Santos and Oribe Peralta Mexico had a lively front pair with a fine understanding of each other's play. But overall Mexico were too ordinary to trouble the business end of the World Cup. The circumstances of their defeat were a little cruel but in truth the Dutch have more to offer and the competition is the better for their survival.

The Netherlands should now burrow more deeply into the tournament given that they face Costa Rica or Greece in Salvador on Saturday. A potential semi-final against Argentina looms too. They will be relieved to see the back of Fortaleza, but Brazil continues to open up in front of Van Gaal, Robben and their supporting cast.