Van Gaal - the great welder of Dutch football
After Daley Blind raised the score to 2-0 against the US, all teammates chased him to celebrate. And Blind led that orange whirlwind toward the technical area, where a man in a black suit beamed with outstretched arms in greeting. That is Danny Blind - the right-hand man of coach Louis van Gaal, and the father of Daley. Very quickly, the father and son's special moment was interrupted by a group of Dutch players.
The team celebrating that goal is a special team, with a small number of star players but good enough to help the Netherlands win the first ticket to the quarterfinals of the World Cup 2022.
The Netherlands still owns star midfielder Virgil Van Dijk - who with Liverpool won every title and was once the most expensive defender in the world. Nathan Ake won the Premier League with Man City, while the phenomenon of Cody Gakpo is likely to join an English Premier League giant next winter. Conductor Frenkie De Jong is coveted by the big English Premier League teams, while right-back Denzel Dumfries currently plays for Inter Milan and has just played a great game with one goal and two assists.
But the rest of this collective went unnoticed by the media and also had far more forgettable stories. An example who is also playing in the Premier League is Davy Klasssen - who used to cost Everton nearly $ 30 million to recruit. But after Ronald Koeman was sacked, he was forgotten and did not play in the Premier League for 6 months.
In place of Gakpo at the end of the game was Wout Weghorst - a striker who was on the bench, and Burnley was relegated last season. Turning around, he now plays for the team just two matches away from the World Cup final. Marten de Roon's only season in England with Middlesbrough also ended in relegation before he moved to Italy to play for Atalanta and impress. The 31-year-old midfielder is now an important member of the orange team.
It's the same thing about two former players Man Utd- Daley Blind and Memphis Depay. In there, Depay was hoping to be a new Ronaldo with the 7th shirt at Old Trafford, but he was just disappointed in a year and a half a year in a Red vest before he was pushed into Lyon. Even at barca's present, Depay's position faded after a season when the crew returned to a new star attack just like Lewandowski, Raphinha added partner of Ansu Fati and Oubele Dembele. But in the Dutch coat, the bulk of Depay's number was up in the first place where the foot kicks score a number for the team with 43 table, just behind Robin Van Persie- the men who broke the 50-desk. Depay's record is much more than any star in the previous generation, even Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert or Arjen Robben.
This partly explains the reason why Van Gaal was annoyed when the media criticized the Dutch play. In a press conference earlier this week, a reporter once mentioned that Dutch fans "have to grind their teeth" when watching the home team. In many ways, Dutch fans have reason to worry when they see the home team of the notorious total football team holding the ball only 35%, passing 404 passes compared to 572 in the US. The Netherlands committed twice as many fouls and had 4km fewer miles overall than the opponent.
Even Van Gaal admitted: "Our first half possession was unacceptable for a tournament like the World Cup." But the truth is that this veteran coach is trying to win the championship with only "a handful" of stars in hand. The captain and most important star of the team is a central defender - Van Dijk. Van Gaal himself also re-appeared even though he announced his retirement and led the students through the qualifiers when he was fighting cancer.
"Instead of booing Van Gaal for boring play, Dutch fans should feel proud of what this team has done. Look at what he has done with unknown players in his hand." , The Athletic newspaper commented.
Right in the first minutes of the round of 1/8 match, goalkeeper Andries Noppert brilliantly saved Christian Pulisic's shot, helping the Netherlands get off to a good start. This World Cup's tallest goalkeeper first joined the national team at the age of 28 and had only 40 top-notch matches, before being taken to Qatar by Van Gaal. He is another name in the group of players who are little known, or even anonymous, but immediately shine when wearing the national team shirt.
Noppert's career was so bad that in 2020, his parents advised him to retire from football and choose another job. His wife thinks that being a police officer would be a good idea, especially when Noppert needs income to support his family. By then, he had played for four clubs and rarely played. And so, Noppert also plans to give up his career of digital shorts to put on the police blue shirt.
But his impressive form in the shirt of Heerenveen - Doan Van Hau's former team - this season, with six clean sheets in 14 matches in all competitions - put him in Van Gaal's sights. His competition on the national team is not too harsh, when the Netherlands now no longer has talents in the wooden frame like the legendary Edvin van der Sar. Substituting for Noppert are Justin Bijlow - who has only started 18 months for Feyenoord, and Remke Pasveer - Ajax's 39-year-old goalkeeper. Noppert therefore describes his journey to number one in the Dutch team's current woodwork as "bizarre".
Another surprise was midfielder Xavi Simons, just 19 years old and playing for PSV Eindhoven. The fact that Simons went to Qatar to attend the World Cup was a surprise even to the Dutch media, because he had never been on the national team before being called up by Van Gaal.
But now, Van Gaal's trust in Simons, Nopperts, Blind, Depay... and other less-known names are paying off. At 2 a.m. on October 12 (Hanoi time), they will step out together at Lusail and Doha in orange to face the biggest test from the beginning of the tournament: Argentina - the champion candidate with superstar Lionel Messi.
