Louis van Gaal had already kissed Denzel Dumfries this week before he turned his attentions to a bemused, amused Memphis Depay. “He doesn’t want a kiss on the mouth, which is a shame, but also nice,” the Netherlands manager said. It was not a case of LVG raising the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in Qatar as much as an example of Van Gaal’s penchant for the unpredictable and capacity to steal the scene.
If Lionel Messi gets his wish, Argentina against the Netherlands might yet be the last game of an epic coaching career that started the year Diego Maradona won the World Cup – or maybe not, given the possibility he will come out of retirement again – and, if it is a farewell tour, Van Gaal’s eccentricities feel ever more pronounced.
