Wesley Sneijder scored the winner in the 68th minute with a header following a corner kick."It just slipped through from my bald head and it was a great feeling," Sneijder said.
It was the Netherlands' first win over Brazil since the 1974 World Cup, when Johan Cruyff was the team's star and "total football" reigned.
"It was an amazing game. I think we showed the whole world how we can play," Sneijder said. "Finally we won, we beat Brazil."
Robinho had given Brazil the lead in the 10th, but the Netherlands equalized in the 53rd with an own goal from Felipe Melo. "We had two players going for the same ball and what happened happened," Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar said of the equalizer, his eyes filled with tears.
It was a match of sharp contrasts for Felipe Melo, who set up the opening goal with a brilliant through pass but then was shown a direct red card in the 73rd for stamping on Netherlands winger Arjen Robben, leaving Brazil with 10 men.
"I'm devastated. It was hard to see the players crying back there," Felipe Melo said after emerging from the changing room. "I have to apologize to the Brazilian fans. I came here thinking about giving Brazil the title, but I'm a human being. Everybody can make mistakes."
The Netherlands reached the semifinals for the first time since losing to Brazil on penalties at the 1998 World Cup in France and will next face Uruguay.
Having won all five of their matches so far, the Netherlands extended its team-record unbeaten streak to 24 games, stretching back to a September 2008 loss to Australia.
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