Louis van Gaal: “I’m happy, but we can do a lot better”

Louis van Gaal congratulates Virgil van Dijk after the victory over the United States. Photo: KNVB Media

After that, Louis van Gaal was happy to beat the USA (3-1) and reach the quarter-finals, but he also continues to be critical of his team. The national coach sees a significant improvement in the Dutch team’s possession of the ball.

Van Gaal said of Team Camera NOS. “I’ve been working on it for four games. We’re making great strides. I’m more comfortable with the second half in this area.”

initiative

The national coach deliberately chose to leave the initiative to the United States. “We played provocative pressure to create space behind their defence. We also scored from that. Two goals were a real beauty.”

Van Gaal is also pleased with the important role of Daley Blind and Denzel Dumfries. Goals from one wing-back to another, yeah I’m proud of that. He also paid tribute to Andres Neubert. He added, “America had three chances, one of which was already two minutes later. Andres’ save was then very important.”

And on Friday, the Netherlands will face either Argentina or Australia in the quarter-finals. “I’m glad we got two days of extra rest. We always had to come back first. We’ll use those days well. That’ll be fine.”

The Netherlands national team celebrates after its victory over the United States.

Team spirit

We really did it together

Andreas Nobert spoke the same words. “We won and I’m very happy about it. We really did it together.” The goalkeeper was alert and made some important saves. Three minutes later he had already made a decisive save. “As a bouncer, it’s nice to catch the first ball. Then you’re right there. That’s a very different feeling than if you had to make a catch right away.”

Denzel Dumfries was content with his own role as well as making it to the quarter-finals. “We’ve had some criticism as full-backs after the last few games. I’m glad I, like Daley Blind, have been able to help the team. It gives us a huge boost.”

Blind agrees. “The first opponent collapsed more. Then there wasn’t much space for us. They wanted to play football and we pressed less. This created more space for us on the counter.”

Team spirit

Virgil van Dijk particularly praised the team spirit. “We scored two great goals and then all of a sudden we conceded. No idea how he got in, but it was disappointing. After that we just kept fighting and made it 3-1. That says it all about this team.”

The captain also sees room for improvement. “You can still be better in possession. We are decisive, because we know we can play football very well. Now we will recover first and then prepare for a nice poster in the quarter-finals.”

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