AFP Louis van Gaal (right) and Arjen Robben.
Louis van Gaal switched tactics once more against Costa Rica and may again want to come up with something new for the semifinal encounter with Argentina on Wednesday.
The 62-year-old Dutch coach has so far got everything right during the tournament from bringing on substitutes to score vital goals to bringing on a substitute goalkeeper to save penalties.
Van Gaal struck gold with the use of reserve keeper Tim Krul for the shoot-out victory over Costa Rica in Salvador, but it is not the first time that plan B has come to the rescue for the Dutch in this tournament.
In the last 16 against Mexico with the Dutch a goal down, Van Gaal changed tactics during a cooling break, and with late goals from Wesley Sneijder and substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar from the penalty spot, the coach was vindicated.
Van Gaal has favoured a 5-3-2 line-up, switching to 4-3-3 late on against Mexico, while another change was introduced against Costa Rica where the Dutch lined up with three strikers in Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben and Memphis Depay in a flexible 3-4-3 system.
Dirk Kuyt and Daley Blind worked hard as wing-backs on the right and left flanks dropping back to bolster the defence if necessary.
The change was partly caused by the absence of injured midfielder Nigel de Jong, who is out of the World Cup, as well as the belief Costa Rica would be sitting deep.
“I had to find a substitute for De jong and also apply a system change because I felt the quality of Costa Rica was less than Mexico and Chile,” he said. “I thought I could hurt them more with three strikers but we didn’t really see that because we weren’t able to score a goal.”
It wasn’t for want of trying and but for an outstanding Keylor Navas in Costa Rica’s goal, the Dutch would have won with room to spare.
Wesley Snjeider was also unfortunate with shots against both the post and the bar, and Robin van Persie also had an effort cleared off the line and onto the bar.
Argentina will present a more formidable challenge and it would be no surprise to see Van Gaal reshuffling again for the match in Sao Paulo.
Van Gaal was not too impressed by what he saw of Argentina in their 1-0 victory over Belgium, while admitting after the Costa Rica penalty win that he only saw the first half of their quarter-final.
Argentina were “just stopping and slamming on the brakes” after taking an early lead through Gonzalo Higuain.
“Argentina are an excellent team with strong individual quality players such as (Lionel) Messi. But that was not the case (of Argentina attacking) especially in the first half,” he said.
After four successive wins, Van Gaal now has a victory on penalties after a history of Dutch losses in penalty shoot-outs at major tournaments.
This is however, a different Dutch squad to past tournaments, one not riven by infighting or big egos.
Senior players like Van Persie, Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt, Wesley Snjeider and Nigel De Jong are helping the younger players along and determination within the squad to be playing in the final at the Maracana is great.
The good spirit in the team camp was forged at the pre-World Cup training camp in Portugal and has continued at their base in Rio de Janeiro. The players, it seems, have no need for Van Gaal’s imperious hand.
“I haven’t checked up on them once. They know when they have to take on their responsibilities. This is incredibly strong compared with other teams (I coached),” he said.
Van Gaal, who will be taking over at Manchester United after the World Cup, is also enjoying his good fortune with tactical changes and substitutions.
“If you fine tune things sometimes you can change a match, but it’s also a matter of luck sometimes,” he had said ahead of the game. “We have not played as well with ball possession but when the opposition has the ball I think we are one of the best if not the best.”
Van Gaal had also offered the assessment that his side, although difficult to beat, is “not a fantastic team.” Not yet perhaps. But with a second successive semifinal secured and a second successive final one game away, the coach might soon be changing his opinion.
RELATED NEWS
Tim Krul in dreamland after shoot-out switch
Van Gaal says substitute Tim Krul planned in advance for shoot-out
Super-sub keeper puts Dutch in World Cup semis
Costa Rica walk tall out of World Cup door
No comments:
Post a Comment