Coach’s moves driving Dutch
Van Gaal guides team back to world-class level
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL — Perhaps it was a joke. Or more mind games from a man who has become a master at them.
Eitherway, Aloysius PaulusMaria van Gaal — better known as Louis to friends and family — caused quite a stir last spring when he said the only job he really wantedwas to coach a team in the English Premier League.
“Either that,” he said “or I will retire to Portugal with my wife.”
Never mind that, at the time, Van Gaal was preparing the Dutch national team for the World Cup. Or that, at just 62, he was at the end of a six-year run that had seen himwin league titles in Germany and Holland, reach the finals of the Champions League and qualify for theWorld Cup in Brazil with a Dutch team that had gone winless in the Euros just two years earlier.
Despite all that he still had one last thing on his bucket list.
“My ambition is to coach a top team in the Premier League,” said Van Gaal, who got his wish inMaywhenhe was hired by Manchester United. “I want to win the league title in a fourth country. That’smyobjectiveandI want to fulfill it.”
That will have towait because today in Sao Paulo, Van Gaal will be coaching theNetherlands against Lionel Messi and Argentina in the World Cup semifinals, trying to get the team back to the final in which it lost to Spain in extra time four years ago.
Although Van Gaal has been a success everywhere he has gone— in 23 years as a club coach in four countries, he has lost fewer than 20 percent of his games — no one sawthis coming. The Dutch were humiliated in the 2012 Euros, bickering among themselves while scoring only two goals in three consecutive losses, their worst performance in the world’s second-biggest international competition.
Van Gaal, who had failed to qualify Netherlands for the 2002 World Cup in his first try at coach, was brought back more to stop the bleeding than to performa resurrection. Instead, his team sailed through the qualifying tournament unbeaten, outscoring opponents 34-5 in 10 games. And in 27 games with the national team this time around Van Gaal has lost only twice, both times in friendlies.
“Compared with the atmosphere at Euro 2012, it’s night and day,” midfielder Wesley Sneijder, whose late goal against Mexico in the round of 16 kept the team from being eliminated. “I had my doubts before the tournament, but they disappeared very quickly. This group gets along extremely well. The atmosphere is super.”
Striker DirkKuyt, who, at 33 has seen his international career revived under Van Gaal, says none of the Netherlands’ success would have happened without the coach getting everyone on the same page. “He is the perfect manager to make that happen,” he told reporters.
And now, in perhaps his most masterful coaching job yet, the Dutch are in the World Cup semifinals. Known for a demanding, no-nonsense approach, Van Gaal has softened, lingering after training in Brazil to kick a ball aroundwithsome of his players’ children. He also has given veterans such as Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie — his captain here and, most likely his captain with ManchesterUnited— avoice in managing an otherwise young team.
Unfortunately for the Dutch, VanPersie is indoubt for the semifinal after coming down with a stomach problem. Van Persie trained separately Tuesday with defender Daryl Janmaat, and Van Gaal said bothwere suffering “stomach and intestinal problems.”
Van Gaal also has become tactically unpredictable, changing his lineup and strategy game by game — even half to half. His most surprising — and successful — movecamejust before the tiebreaking penalty shootout with Costa Rica in last week’s quarterfinal when Van Gaal pulled regular goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for backup Tim Krul. If the Dutch had lost, it would have been remembered as one of most boneheaded moves inWorldCuphistory. Instead, Krul stopped two shots and the previously forgotten Kuyt converted his penalty try, turning both into heroes when the Netherlands advanced.