Planing the World Cup formation has started

The lap of honour, Saturday evening after the victory over Denmark (4-2) is not for Georginio Wijnaldum. He does walk, but not as happy as he would otherwise be parading past the exuberant supporters in the Johan Cruijff Arena. No pretenses. Not a big smile. A dull look.

Blame him. Wijnaldum has just spent ninety minutes in a place where he has hardly been in recent years: the reserve bench of the Dutch national team. Sometimes he was there when he was taken out, receiving compliments on his play, but now he was there from the start, and the cameras zoomed in on him when not him but other players were brought in by the national coach. The disappointment dripped from his face.

And to make it more painful: there is a good chance that he will be on the bench again on Tuesday against Germany. Just like in the next international round, because Louis van Gaal will also use those four Nations League matches to refine his intended formation for the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on November 21. “He reacted professionally,” said Van Gaal at the NOS, “but he was very disappointed.”

Thus Wijnaldum became the child of the bill in the new system: 1-3-4-1-2. The message that Van Gaal gives with this, eight months before the world championship: this Orange knows no holy houses. Although the status of captain Virgil van Dijk, playmaker Frenkie de Jong and top scorer Memphis Depay tends to that. They form the backbone of this team, they have the security that some other Orange internationals lack.

Intended blueprint

It was exciting which eleven Van Gaal would post around Van Dijk, de Jong and Depay on Saturday evening. Daily advances were made in the media on the intended blueprint of the set-up for Qatar, whereby the necessary space was made in the newspaper columns and on the websites for the development of concern child Wijnaldum.

Was it smart, aside from financial reasons, to exchange Liverpool for Paris Saint-Germain last summer? How could Liverpool coach Jurgen Klöpp’s favorite player be passed over for the French champions’ top matches? Would the dip in form have consequences for Wijnaldum at Orange, or could he live on his credit with the national team? He’s the vice-captain, after all. And the last time he started on the bench, and didn’t play, was against Northern Ireland in November 2019 – when he wasn’t fit enough. That is more than two years and 24 international matches ago.

Nevertheless, most internationals had to prove themselves last week during the training sessions in Zeist. In those five days, Van Gaal tested several players in multiple positions. For example, he let Daley Blind play as one of the three center defenders, only to conclude that his good positional play would not be reflected enough there. That is why Blind played against Denmark on Saturday as an emerging left-back, where according to Van Gaal he is still better than Tyrell Malacia and Owen Wijndal.

Measuring with two standards?

In the front, the national coach put Steven Bergwijn next to Depay. Somewhat remarkable, because he is not a regular player at his club either. At Tottenham Hotspur, Bergwijn collects the minutes. But was that a double standard compared to Wijnaldum? The attacker had too good a track record with Orange for that, said Van Gaal. Bergwijn has always worked well for me. During the last international match, in November last year, Bergwijn opened the scoring in the decisive World Cup qualifier against Norway (2-0).

And it must be said: Bergwijn more than paid back Van Gaal’s trust on Saturday. The wonderfully played opening goal came from his head after fifteen minutes, after a flawless cross from Blind. His second goal was just as beautiful, after seventy minutes. Curled in with feeling, out of reach of goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel: 4-2.

But not only Bergwijn played well. Frenkie de Jong was dominant in midfield, he was everywhere, while Steven Berghuis continued to pose a threat behind the two-man vanguard. He thinks ahead, a blessing compared to the years when the Dutch national team was still dealing in wide balls, and practice matches were often a long sit.

Yet you also saw discomfort in the field against Denmark. Take Matthijs de Ligt. As one of the three center defenders, he had trouble finding his place on the field, partly because Teun Koopmeiners let himself sink back to his right zone a lot. In search of space, De Ligt then crossed the center line, which, based on his difficult ball handling, resembled a child who is allowed to play beyond his own street for the first time. What to do with all that freedom?

Virgil van Dijk also saw those pain points. Despite the victory, the captain was still not satisfied. He repeated afterwards that he is in favor of the old system. That is 1-4-3-3, which forced placement for the World Cup. Why did Van Gaal play like that in the first place? lack of time. After he was appointed as national coach last summer, as a replacement for Ronald Koeman, it was too short a day to introduce this new system.

It is not surprising that Van Gaal also has a strong opinion, as Van Dijk said afterwards. All discussions about the game have been in vain so far. The national coach remains in charge. He just wants three defenders, not four.

Van Gaal could be critical of the two goals that the Netherlands conceded. Although? No doubt he too would have given Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen the chance to score on his return as an international, after that black day at the European Championship last summer, when his heart had stopped.

Eriksen was on the field for barely three minutes when he made his first contact at the start of the second half, pushing all tactical reflections into the background with a jewel of a goal.