Louis van Gaal hit out at claims he's ruined the legacy of Dutch football - insisting he has been a tactical trailblazer.
The veteran coach, 71, ran the gauntlet from his own media who believe he has compromised the principles of ‘Total Football’ ahead of a mouth-watering quarter-final clash against Argentina. However, the former Manchester United boss hit back, claiming that even Brazil have copied his methods.
Van Gaal established himself as a free-spirit when putting together an exciting Ajax side in the 90s that contained greats such as Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert. But he moderated his approach eight years ago at the World Cup in Brazil. Despite finishing as beaten semi-finalists, he hasn’t shaken off suggestions that his new pragmatic style somehow betrayed his Oranje's core beliefs.
He said: “In 2014, I started changing my mind and thought about football in a different way. Football evolves. It’s much more difficult to play now, in terms of attacking football, in the way Ajax did 20 years ago. Football no longer is being played as it was in 1974 or 1978 - back then it was an open game, which it no longer is.
“You can have all sorts of opinions about that. But that’s the way the game has evolved. It’s the way things go. When I started developing a more defensive system, people criticised me. But coaches followed me.
“When smaller countries played top countries, they saw that playing a packed defence was easier than attacking. The way some people talk, you would think we only defend. That’s not true. You can see for yourselves that others are now playing like that. Brazil are now doing almost exactly the same thing as we are.
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“They do have wonderful technical players but one of their matches out here wasn’t very attractive at all. But it doesn’t mean anything. They are a great team. And we are a country that could become world champions.”
Argentina’s tournament has gathered momentum in the wake of their shock opening defeat to Saudi Arabia. With this fixture rich in history - from the 1978 final, Dennis Bergkamp’s quarter-final at Marseille 20 years later to the last four clash in south America, there are sub-plots aplenty.
As Van Gaal recognised: “I don’t want to downplay the importance of games against the other countries we have faced but, for us, the tournament starts against Argentina. They will be quite different from the countries we have played so far. Argentina is a top country with top players.”
Depay added: “We know all about Argentina. I was there in 2014, things ended slightly differently for me back then. There will be a lot of tension and a lot of pressure. We have to prepare well and deal with it."
