World Cup: Netherlands coach Van Gaal hails effort of players and bemoans penalty misses

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal and Wout Weghorst look dejected after the penalty shootout loss to Argentina. PHOTO: REUTERS

LUSAIL, Qatar – Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal hailed the efforts of his squad in fighting back from two goals down to force their World Cup quarter-final against Argentina into a penalty shoot-out even though their ultimate exit proved to be “incredibly painful”.

The Dutch staged a dramatic comeback with two late goals to level their match 2-2 and take the last-eight encounter at the Lusail Stadium into extra time, where the scoreline stayed the same until the final whistle.

But they squandered their first two penalties and went on to lose the shoot-out 4-3.

“I had asked the players to train penalties at their club and they did that. It was a fantastic achievement to come back from 0-2 down to 2-2, but then to lose on penalties is tough,” van Gaal said.

“I can’t blame myself, I think, we prepared everything. My players fought to the end and they are dead in the changing room.”

The 71-year-old returned for a third spell in charge in August 2021 after undergoing treatment for aggressive prostate cancer.

The Oranje are unbeaten in 20 games under van Gaal, including Friday’s match, but he confirmed he would be stepping down from the job as planned. Before the tournament, it was confirmed Ronald Koeman will replace him.

“The boys are feeling despondent. They gave everything and I’m incredibly proud. I had a wonderful time,” he said.

“It is incredibly painful to see how we’ve been eliminated because I did everything I could to prevent this.

“In the shoot-out, we missed the first two penalties and that put pressure on the rest of the penalty takers. It is still a lottery and luckily for them (Argentina) they won.”

He was also coach of the Netherlands when they were beaten on penalties by Argentina in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.

“This is the second time we lost to Argentina this way. Two World Cups with the same coach for the Netherlands,” he lamented.

The Dutch did not start the game well, the former Manchester United and Barcelona coach admitted.

“The problem is, we were not able to find free man with the ball. I tried to solve it at half-time and we then changed our tactics three times in the second half,” he said.

“We fought unbelievably hard to come back from a 2-0 deficit against a powerful Argentina who can defend very well.”

Van Gaal also felt the Dutch lost initiative in extra time, but said this was “logical” due to fatigue.

“In the second half, we ran a lot more than Argentina and there were a few players on their last legs. We thought we’d win on penalties because of the training we’ve done.” REUTERS, AFP

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