Bold Van Gaal sets up Argentina semi
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DUTCH coach Louis van Gaal’s audacious move in substituting his goalkeeper for the penalty shootout in the World Cup quarterfinal victory over Costa Rica has earned widespread praise.
The victory set up a mouth-watering last-four meeting with Argentina, as the goalkeeper he sent on, Tim Krul, proved the hero of the hour.
Van Gaal’s unprecedented move at a World Cup, and at such a crucial juncture, was the more startling as Krul had saved just two of the last 20 penalties he had faced playing for Premier League side Newcastle United.
However, Krul didn’t let his country or the future Manchester United boss down and rounded off a formidable semifinal line-up which sees the Dutch play Argentina on Wednesday.
Host Brazil, still absorbing the shock of losing star player Neymar, plays Germany, which will be appearing in a record fourth successive World Cup semifinal, on Tuesday.
The clash with Argentina renews a rivalry which saw the Argentinians beat the Netherlands in the 1978 final in Buenos Aires and the Dutch beat the South Americans in a memorable quarterfinal in Marseille in 1998.
“We’d discussed it with Tim, how Costa Rica would shoot their penalties, their sequence. So he was prepared,” explained van Gaal, whose second spell in charge of the national side has proved far happier than his first when he was sacked after the team failed to reach the 2002 finals.
“Fortunately it worked out, because if it hadn’t worked out, I would have taken the wrong decision.”
Krul said the switch, which was kept secret from No. 1 ‘keeper Jasper Cillessen, had been in the works all week. “It’s a dream come true for me. I watched the penalties. We’ve been preparing with all the goalkeepers and the goalkeeper coach,” said Krul, who saved shots from Bryan Ruiz and Michael Umana in Salvador.
The Dutch press were in awe of the 62-year-old former Ajax and Barcelona coach’s brave gamble.
“In sport at the highest level success can be decided by the thinnest of margins. Sometimes it stems from luck, sometimes from a sixth sense,” commented De Telegraaf.
While Costa Rica put up a brave fight, Argentina and four-time world footballer of the year Lionel Messi present a very different challenge even if they have yet to sparkle. Becoming expert in the art of winning by the barest of margins, their 1-0 win over the Belgians on Saturday was their fifth successive win at the finals by a single goal.
Messi, who found Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois unbeatable once again as he went goalless against him for an eighth successive match, hailed the performance as Argentina’s best yet and added the team was proud to have broken a run of 24 years without an appearance in the semifinals.
“Argentina have gone a long time without doing this, and it was us who crossed the frontier,” he said.
While it was Gonzalo Higuain who got the winner, for coach Alejandro Sabella if it had not been for the genius of 27-year-old Messi the Argentines would be back at home by now. “He’s the water in the desert. He finds solutions when we think there aren’t any.”
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