Van Gaal: 'Don't dream of winning if you only aim to reach the quarterfinals'
The Netherlands started the 2022 World Cup unimpressively. On the opening day, they faced many difficulties, and had to wait until the last minutes to beat Senegal 2-0 thanks to Cody Gakpo's header in the 84th minute and Davy Klaassen's back-kick in the 9th minute. , the army under Van Gaal opened the scoring thanks to Gapko in the sixth minute, but then sagged and let Enner Valencia snatch a point back for Ecuador.
These two results on the one hand help the Netherlands extend their unbeaten run to 17 matches. But on the other hand, it raised many mixed opinions that the orange shirt team did not play well because of great pressure from the championship goal set by coach Van Gaal.
However, at the press conference before the home match Qatar in the last leg of Group A today, the 71-year-old coach affirmed: "I don't see any pressure here, because when you enter a big tournament, you always If you tell the players before the tournament that quarterfinals are enough, you'll never be the champion."
According to the Dutch coach, setting high goals will further motivate the players. He emphasized that he never said that the Netherlands would definitely become the world champion, but only said that they could do it. "We have a chance and the players are convinced of this goal," Van Gaal said.
The Netherlands are being criticized on the 3-5-2 system'- the Van Gaal schema that was determined to be used since it was a year and a half ago. Former coach Man Utd does not deny that the team is having a problem in this system, especially in the sewers and control the ball of wings, like in the Ecuador. However, you insist it will not change for the public opinion. "The World Cup fights are hard, which has been demonstrated by many evenings and eventual victories, I've been thinking about the third-quartered system for a year, and I can change at some point, but I don't have seen a change in the Gaal.
The Dutch coach also pointed to the prevalence of the 3-5-2 system, saying that even the host Qatar played according to the same scheme. "In football, systems play against each other and it's like chess. It's not always fun for people to watch, but it's the way forward," he added.
Memphis Depay was sidelined two months before the World Cup with a hamstring injury, and has played a total of 73 minutes over two games against Senegal and Ecuador. Therefore, Van Gaal did not want to risk using Depay in the group stage, and hinted at continuing to place Vincent Janssen in the starting position against Qatar today.
In Group A, the Netherlands and Ecuador have four points, Senegal has three points, and Qatar has no points. Van Gaal's teachers and students will continue if they draw with Qatar, and will definitely stay at the top of the table if they win three points. At that time, with the top of Group A, the Netherlands will meet the second team of Group B - where England, Iran, Wales and the US are.
