Bond coach makes for laughs
Van Gaal gets help from Schweinsteiger
By Stephan Uersfeld, Doha
12/08/2022, 7:31 p.m
Soon Louis van Gaal will no longer be the coach of the Dutch national team. It could all be over after the quarter-final against Argentina. But the bonds coach always has a plan and in world champion Schweinsteiger a prominent tipster.
The 71-year-old Louis van Gaal provided good entertainment ahead of the World Cup classic Netherlands against Argentina. The Bonds coach, who will resign after the tournament, was in a good mood, quick-witted and aggressive and gave people what they wanted: the Louis van Gaal show.
So it was not surprising that the former coach of FC Bayern Munich could hardly hide his joy when a question from Germany was put to him towards the end of the PK. It was about his former player Bastian Schweinsteiger, whom he coached at Bayern Munich and transferred to Manchester United. The 2014 World Champion is also in Qatar. Works as an expert for ARD and is still in contact with van Gaal, he recently revealed.
Not only is he in contact with him, he also tells him “things that my scouts haven’t found out,” said van Gaal about the exchange of messages with one of his favorite students. “And now the Netherlands is a fan. Germany is already out.” However, van Gaal did not want to reveal any further details. He had already rushed through the show and could only quickly praise Schweinsteiger as a “player with brains” before hurrying on.
Memphis refuses van Gaal the tenderness
It had already been about one of his ex-players. About someone who played with Schweinsteiger at Manchester United and trained under van Gaal, then nudged him and could now take revenge on Friday at the World Cup quarter-finals in the Lusail: Angel Di María! No problem for the bonds coach.
“I’m very sorry that Angel Di María once said that I was the worst coach he’s ever had,” said van Gaal: “Here next to me is Memphis. He was also in Manchester. And now we’re kissing. We even kiss on the mouth.” That didn’t happen then. Because Memphis Depay, who was sitting next to him, also burst out laughing and van Gaal was already babbling about how he had not only put Angel Di María on the bench during his time at Manchester United, but also his compatriot.
“It’s not nice, but believe me: a coach doesn’t do it without a reason. Maybe it was a wrong decision. Look at how we treat each other now. He doesn’t want a kiss on the mouth, too bad, but also nice,” said van Gaal, perhaps remembering how he had kissed Denzel Dumfries a few days ago, waking up his full-back with it. In a 3-1 win over the USA just a day later, Dumfries was voted player of the match with two assists and a goal. As a reward, there was of course another big smack from van Gaal. Just not on the mouth.
And so van Gaal climbed from pod to pod this Thursday, tangled with the assembled Dutch press, did not answer their questions because they seemed too negative to him, wondered about a question about Lionel Messi and how he could be stopped and kept talking about how he’d developed a vision of football over the years that now has to be accepted as universal.
“Now the whole world is playing like this,” as van Gaal demonstrated
“You keep asking the same question, but football has developed in the last 20 years,” he rebuked a compatriot and briefly outlined his career path via Ajax (attacking football) and Barcelona (not quite as offensive anymore). for the 2014 World Cup. At that time he had modified the traditional game system of the Netherlands.
Suddenly they were playing 3-5-2 instead of 4-3-3. “In 2014 I developed a more defensive system,” he said. “Now the whole world is playing like that. You can see that at this World Cup. A good defense makes it easy.” Even Brazil play like that, said van Gaal, and he was certainly not wrong.
Eight years ago the path of the Dutch ended shortly before the dream final against Germany. In the semi-finals they lost to the 1978 world champions (in the final against the Netherlands) and 1986. “Tomorrow the tournament starts for us,” said van Gaal. “Argentina is very special.”