At 71, Louis van Gaal is on the home stretch of his career. For the third time he works as a bonds coach. Like Jupp Heynckes at Bayern Munich in 2013, he is the right man in the right place. Soon he could be the best in the world. He’s only three wins away.
Back in the Khalifa, back at the origin of the DFB debacle at this World Cup. The first round of 16 is coming up: Louis van Gaal against the USA. The 71-year-old has big plans. “We want to be world champions, so we still have four games ahead of us,” he says ahead of the game against the minimalists from overseas, and immediately invites a journalist to the final.
“See you there,” says Bayern’s ex-coach. Bad news for the USA in advance. The United States score two goals in three games, concede only one. Makes a total of five points and safe passage to the round of 16.
Only once, 20 years ago, did things continue for the USA. In the Munsu Cup Stadium in Ulsan, South Korea, they fail in the quarterfinals due to referees Hugh Dallas and Michael Ballack. In Doha, Qatar, the United States will go out in the round of 16 for the third time since. They have no solutions against van Gaal’s world champion plans. The 3: 1 (2: 0) of the Dutch is as deserved as energy-saving. It still looks as if the team from the North Sea is taking a run-up for the big games. There are three more to come.
With every win for the Dutch, there is also a greater likelihood that they will see the inflatable World Cup trophy again as they enter the stadium. That is not the case on Saturday. The gigantic, inflatable World Cup must have done something. He stands carelessly in a corner of the stadium, Saffron is around 30 meters closer to the field. The Briton with Nigerian roots landed a world hit 26 years ago with her band Republica, “Ready To Go”. Yes. Let’s go. Finally turn off the music that bursts eardrums and shreds nerves at this World Cup.
The performance is, as expected, completely wrong. But who cares? Nobody came for Saffron, the gourmets are there for Louis van Gaal. The rest for the US. At least before the game, they offer a foretaste of the 2026 World Cup. They are loud there, but not so much afterwards.
Bond coach van Gaal is at his very best in this tournament. Freed from the pressure, he just wants to enjoy this World Cup and write himself in the history books. In his eyes, he deserved it. After all, he is Louis van Gaal and not just anyone. His Elftal also proves in the Khalifa that there is much more behind his likeable loudmouthedness. They are the masters of efficiency.
When the stadium director popped up one of the many stats collected at the tournament during a 66th-minute stoppage, the data underpinned what was seen on the field. The USA always try, break into the Dutch defense third, but always fail. They have a huge chance to take the lead in the third minute through ex-Dortmund player Christian Pulisic, but after that the game slips away from them despite all the ball control.
In the 66th minute you can now see the entries into the opponent’s defense third and where they come from. The playing field is divided into five zones from left to right. In the USA it reads like this: 10-6-2-4-12. So a total of 34 breakthroughs in the attacking third, but there are zero goals on the scoreboard. Van Gaal’s Netherlands is 1-0-2-6-5. A total of 14 ways into the last zone, only three not via the right side, but there are two goals on the scoreboard.
Both, of course, started on the right side. Twice the outstanding Denzel Dumfries manages to penetrate almost to the baseline at the end of a combination and then there is one. First Memphis inserted Depay, then Daley Blind completed with the break whistle. The rest of the time, the Dutch usually spend watching the United States senseless possession. It seems to bring them great joy.
A similar picture in the second half. Again, the USA has a first early chance, again they fail and even when the wounded ex-Schalke player Haji Wright manages one of the strangest hits of the tournament with the heel, nobody panics. This time Dumfries is allowed to complete. 3:1 The game is over. And the Netherlands loosely further. That must cause great anxiety for the remaining teams.
The hype at this World Cup of farewells lies with the big old men on the field, with Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. The GOAT debate, the debate about who is the best player of all time, could finally escalate with a still possible between Argentina and Portugal in the final in the Lusail. But the thought of Louis van Gaal being at his last World Championship is hard to bear.
So in the first big knockout game of the tournament, the quarter-finals Netherlands vs Argentina, it’s Messi vs Louis van Gaal. He’s very relaxed. “We have a great chance here. There are three games left. I’ve been talking about it for a year. We can be world champions! We can, not we will be world champions,” he says.
“I’m talking about cohesion. And how we can bring the best possible team onto the pitch. I really enjoy this group, as well as the performance and the results, of course.” Then van Gaal gives the Man of the Match, Denzel Dumfries, a big smack in the face. He did that a few days ago, but everyone should see it.
Upon arrival at the Elftal team hotel, Shakira’s “Waka Waka” plays, and the team walks through a line of people singing and dancing. At the very end, Louis van Gaal dances and captures everything with his smartphone. He’s so happy now and there’s no bringer in sight yet. At Bayern he once wanted to form the best team in Europe, with Elftal he probably has the best team of this tournament.
The world title, that much is clear, only goes through the Netherlands. If that’s the case, then he’ll be back on stage and deliver one of his wonderful speeches for eternity. Then Louis van Gaal is definitely the king of the world.