THE NETHERLANDS head coach Luis van Gaal is confident his team will neutralise Lionel Messi and overcome two of the favourites at the Qatar 2022 World Cup to reach the final of the tournament.
The Dutch last made it to the final of the global showpiece in 1978 when they lost to Argentina in Buenos Aires, but Van Gaal is sure he will take them to that stage again.
Van Gaal’s side face Argentina in the quarter-finals tonight, with the winners set for a semi-final showdown with Brazil or Croatia.
“We are beating Argentina and then we will face Brazil again so this doesn’t matter,” Van Gaal said during his pre-match press conference yesterday when reminded that the two South American giants were Holland’s most frequent World Cup opponents.
The last time both teams met in the World Cup eight years ago, Argentina won the tight semi-final clash on penalties.
Van Gaal believes his team will match whatever Messi and his teammates come up with.
“Argentina used three different systems against Poland. So maybe they were testing stuff,” the 71-year-old former Ajax, Manchester United and Barcelona manager noted.
“But we are The Netherlands. If you look at the results between these two countries, it’s pretty balanced.”
Argentina captain Messi has always drawn special attention from opponents and Van Gaal admitted he had one of his players pretend to be the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner in training.
“That was Noa Lang. And he also found it logical that he was the one who had to play as Messi,” he explained.
“How we will handle Messi? I’m not going to tell you, because otherwise I’ll give away my tactic, and that’s naive. But it’s not that hard to imagine what we’ll do.”
Van Gaal’s methods have been questioned in Qatar, with his team criticised for being too negative.
He dismissed the criticism, insisting that he was on the right path.
Van Gaal said: “You keep asking me about my style of play [counter attacking football]. You don’t understand that it’s much harder to play attacking football now, than 20 years ago. Football has evolved.
“Brazil is almost doing the same as the Dutch national team. It’s just that they have very technical players. But Brazil is still a top favourite, while we are a country who ‘could’ win it.”
