Photo: van Gaal speaks to Wesley Sneijder during a cooling break at the World Cup (Getty Images)
Today marks the second anniversary of Louis van Gaal’s second appointment of being the manager of the Netherlands. The former midfielder who was educated in the ‘Total Football Era,’ has done it all in his management career except lifting the World Cup Trophy and he is currently just two games away from such a fate. The 62 year old will take charge at Manchester United after the World Cup and the United board as well as the fans must be excited by what they have been witnessing throughout the tournament.
Van Gaal is a qualified gymnastics teacher which means he is an instructor who takes keen interest in training sessions. He is a manager who ensures that all his players understand what he wants to achieve and what their roles are. He also ensures that his teams understand his tactics and the way in which he wants to play. He invests a lot of his time in youth as he believes talent has no age. He is a fan and teacher of attacking football but finding balance and cohesion is very much at the heart of his philosophy.
After taking charge of the Oranje for the second time, he quickly moved to find the core upon which the team would be built. He enlisted Kevin Strootman, Arjen Robben and captain Robin van Persie as untouchables in his plans as they are seen as vital pieces to his 4-3-3 formation. He also introduced many young players especially from the Dutch Eridivisie as he searched for the best possible Dutch team based on the talent pool he had at his disposal.
Having seen Strootman suffer a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury back in March that would rule him out of the World Cup, the 62 year old decided to change his formation to 5-3-2 because there was no one in his ranks that could provide the balance in midfield that he required. Many experts and legends from Holland questioned his decision but that was quickly forgotten after their thrashing of dethroned World Champions Spain in their opening fixture in Brazil. The Dutch went on to dominate their group winning all their group games aided by some inspired substitutions and tactical changes by van Gaal.
Young Memphis Depay has benefited from van Gaal’s tactical changes. The 20 year old came on to score the winning goal against Australia and he also found the net in a very entertaining match against Chile in their final group game. The PSV winger seems to be the man van Gaal relies on to add pace and trickery off the bench which he has done to great effect in most situations. The use of Leroy Fer to add more power and a bit of craft in midfield also paid dividends against Chile. Not only did he plug gaps and spread passes around the park, he also got on the score sheet with a towering header from a set-piece.
In their Round of 16 tie against Mexico, van Gaal used the ‘cooling breaks’ to change his tactics that ultimately won the match for the Dutch after falling behind in the game. Van Gaal first introduced Depay to add more creativity going forward but then the 62 year old made a bold choice. He decided to replace his captain and top striker van Persie with Klaas Jan Huntelaar who hadn’t kicked a ball at the World Cup thus far. In the end, the Schalke man scored the winning penalty with ultimately the last kick of the game to book a spot in the quarter-finals.
With Brazil, Germany and Argentina all confirmed for the semi-finals, the pressure was on the Oranje to get pass Costa Rica to book their place in the last four. After 90 minutes and almost the end of the 30 minutes extra time, van Gaal pulled off another stroke of genius. He replaced first choice goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen with Newcastle’s Tim Krul for the penalty shout-out which proved to be the winning move. The 6ft 4in shot stopper dived the correct way on all the Costa Rican attempts saving two spot kicks winning the match 4-3 on penalties for the Dutch.
After the match, van Gaal stated that he and his coaching staff discussed penalties with Krul but not with Cillessen. He said he thought that Krul had a longer reach and a better record at saving penalties so he was asked to study the Costa Ricans and be ready should the need arise. It was another indication that his thought and instincts are of the highest level and that he knows the abilities of his players and what they are capable of. He faces a tough semi-final match against Argentina and no one would be brave enough to bet against the new Manchester United manager pulling out another masterstroke to book a place in the final.
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