But Dutch striker insists he didn't fake foul that vanquished Mexico

Dutch striker Arjen Robben on Sunday apologized for diving in a bid to get a penalty against Mexico, but insisted he did not fake the foul that led to his team's winning penalty kick.

Mexico coach Miguel Herrera launched a furious verbal attack on referee Pedro Proenca for giving the penalty that Jan-Klaas Huntelaar scored in injury time to seal a 2-1 comeback victory.

Arjen Robben of the Netherlands celebrates after his team won its World Cup round of 16 game against Mexico at Castelao arena in Fortaleza on Sunday. Eddie Keogh / Reuters

Robben was at the center of both incidents in the last-16 clash in Fortaleza.

"I really have to say and at the same time apologize for my dive in the first half, and I really shouldn't do that," Robben told Dutch broadcaster NOS as he celebrated the victory.

"That was a stupid, stupid thing to do, but sometimes you're expecting to be struck and then they pull their leg away at the last minute."

But Robben insisted Proenca was right to point to the penalty spot after the Dutch star was challenged by Mexico's veteran captain Rafael Marquez. "I was fouled," Robben said.

Mexico was leading until the 88th minute when Wesley Sneijder scored, then Huntelaar won it on the penalty.

Herrera said referee Proenca should no longer be part of the World Cup.

"The determining factor was the man with the whistle - he put us out of the World Cup," Herrera said.

"Although the first goal was down to our mistake, we had the chance to reconsider during the break before extra time, but in the end, when the referee invents a penalty, you go out of the World Cup.

"At the very least they can look at it ... and this gentleman ought to be going home like us."

Herrera claimed his side was the victim of poor refereeing in three of its four games in Brazil and said a European referee should never have been assigned the game in the first place.

"Out of four matches, we had three where the refereeing was disastrous. I don't understand why they had someone from the same confederation. Why not an African, Asian or South American referee? All the doubtful decisions went against Mexico."

Giovani dos Santos' strike early in the second half appeared to have Mexico on course for its first quarterfinal appearance at a World Cup on foreign soil. But the quick pair of goals by the Dutch stunned the Mexicans and Herrera admitted his side lacked experience in how to finish.

"Maybe we were missing what teams like Argentina, Uruguay and those with experience of winning do," he said.

"We had four minutes to go, plus stoppage time, and we should have put the ball in the corner, do what other teams do and perhaps we would have had a different result."

Dutch boss Louis van Gaal admitted that cooling breaks offered to the players for the first time in a World Cup match after half an hour of each half allowed him to have greater influence on the game.

"It is true it helps having these breaks because first I switched to 4-3-3 and we created a lot opportunities," said van Gaal.

"After that I moved to plan B - and I did that in the cooling break.

"That is a clever way of benefiting from those breaks."

The Manchester United manager was vindicated in his substitutions as he surprisingly replaced captain Robin van Persie to bring on Huntelaar.

And van Gaal said he was not afraid to remove his star players for the benefit of the team.

"Van Persie's change was a tactical substitution and you have to remember that before the World Cup he was just recovering from an injury, so it is difficult for him to keep going.

"I am a coach that wants to win, so when I have to I will substitute players."

(China Daily 07/01/2014 page24)