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The room fell silent as Louis van Gaal listened to the question. An Argentine reporter had asked him about the sparkling image that Ángel Di María had of him, since his former Manchester United player described him as the worst manager of his career.
There was a shake of the head, a hint of a reaction on his face as he pressed a finger to his right ear and listened to the translation. He doesn’t always take criticism well, so there was a collective airing on what could follow.
Initially, there was a surprise. It seemed Van Gaal was choosing diplomacy ahead of the Netherlands’ quarter-final date with Argentina, a duel steeped in history, skill and red tape and that sums up everything great about World Cup soccer.
Louis van Gaal was at his naughty best before the World Cup quarterfinals in Holland
“Ángel is a very good footballer and when he played for Manchester United he had a lot of personal problems,” Van Gaal began. “There was a break-in at his house and that also affected his physical condition.”
Then, however, there was a small glance to her left. Memphis Depay sat next to him and Van Gaal’s behavior changed. His eyes sparkled, his smile widened, and the audience began to laugh.
“It is sad that he said it, but he is one of the few players with this opinion,” Van Gaal continued. ‘Of course, sometimes the coach makes decisions that the players don’t like. Di María was not the only Manchester United player who had that… there was Memphis Depay.
The Dutch coach joked with Memphis Depay about his time at Manchester United
Van Gaal leaned over and put his arm over Depay’s left shoulder. What followed was not an answer, but rather something taken out of a Peter Kay routine.
‘Sometimes it wasn’t good for Memphis in Manchester, but now we kiss on the mouth!’ Van Gaal said, the mischief so evidently on his mind. ‘I’m not going to kiss him now, but that’s the way it is in football!’
The room, now, was roaring with laughter. Van Gaal has a hulking, intimidating presence and, while he’s happy to play the fool, he won’t stand for them and there were enough flashpoints during this 30-minute joust to understand the friction that exists between him and the Dutch media.
The atmosphere in the camp is upbeat as they prepare for a big game against Argentina in Qatar.
But this performance -because that is what it is about- could not set a better tone for the tournament at the Lusail Stadium, which is completely full, most of the tickets aspired by Argentines; the mood in the camp is upbeat and much of it is due to the affection Van Gaal inspires.
“The players respect our coach, he’s strong and wonderful,” Depay said. ‘Everyone knows what their responsibility is and it’s important that if you play in the Dutch squad you bring team spirit. It is clear that we all want to make him a wonderful tournament.’
A tournament that, according to Van Gaal, is just beginning. The Netherlands coolly edged out Group A Ecuador, Senegal and Qatar and seemed to be closing in on Saturday when they defeated the United States 3-1 last Saturday, but Argentina presents a different challenge altogether.
Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister praised his Argentinian teammate Lionel Messi
“We have great players and a clear vision in our team of how we want to play,” Brighton midfielder Alexis Mac Allister said. We have our weapons. I know that Louis van Gaal is a great coach, world renowned, and I have a lot of respect for him, but we will do everything possible and we will come to win.”
The Argentinian guns, of course, led by the little maestro wearing the number 10. Mac Allister looked like he was going to pinch himself at one point when he started praising Lionel Messi, so blessed he feels to have the chance to play alongside him. . .
“Leo surprises us every day,” said Mac Allister, whose international career is in its infancy. ‘He’s just amazing. The things he does in training, the things he does off the field. He is well and that is something that gives us all confidence.
When Van Gaal was asked what plan he had devised to stop a man who is on a crusade to finally win the biggest prize of all, the wry tone and eye-rolls left no ambiguity in his thoughts.
Mac Allister said the striker ‘surprises us every day’ with ‘the things he does in training’
‘I’m not going to reveal my tactics to you,’ he frowned. That would be pretty stupid. What do I think of Messi? It’s not too difficult to come up with an answer. I don’t think there needs to be too much fuss about this. I think my players are professional enough to deal with this.
‘There will be 40,000 Argentine fans, there will be 1,400 Dutch fans, which is 400 more than people expected, by the way. – but I’m very happy about it. I don’t want to downplay what we’ve done, but Argentina is different from the countries we’ve played in so far.
You could see that Van Gaal loved everything. This could potentially be his last game in office and while he jokingly suggested he might be tempted to roll the dice one more time if the project was “good”, the effects of the past 12 months and its impact on cancer prostate should not be. t be underestimated.
Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni is under great pressure to deliver at the World Cup
His critics will tell him that he is a man of yesterday, that his tactics are dull and lacking in adventure, but this wise septuagenarian has enough knowledge to set a trap that could embroil his counterpart Lionel Scaloni.
One should not underestimate, either, the emotion that is put into all of this for Argentina, who have never beaten the Netherlands in 90 minutes in a World Cup. Scaloni is under intense pressure to deliver; Van Gaal, by contrast, is enjoying his Indian summer.
‘I look wonderful, I look incredibly young!’ Van Gaal said, drawing more laughter as he got up to leave. “There’s always the possibility, as Memphis said, that you could have defining moments like Dennis Bergkamp’s goal in 1998. We’ll continue to remember them forever.”
And that will certainly be true if Van Gaal and his band of laughing gentlemen can march to the semi-finals.