Lionel Messi is looking forward to meeting the Orange at the World Cup in Qatar. Coming Friday at 8 p.m., he will face the Dutch national team with Argentina in the quarterfinals. The star player expects a tough match.
“A difficult battle with the Netherlands awaits us,” said Messi after the 2-1 win in the eighth finals over Australia. “They play very well. They have great players and a fantastic coach.”
“It will be hard work for us,” continued the Argentinian star. “For us, this tournament has been difficult from the start and certainly at this stage it will only get harder.”
Argentinian national coach Scaloni already admired Van Gaal as a player
The Argentinian national coach Lionel Scaloni has indicated that as a player he already admired the coach Louis van Gaal.
“I played at Deportivo La Coruña when he was the coach of FC Barcelona and he was already a leading man. I am proud to take on him because everyone knows what he has done for football,” said 44-year-old Scaloni after beating Australia (2-1).
The former defender played in the team of Deportivo La Coruña that surprisingly became champion of Spain in 2000. Van Gaal’s FC Barcelona was trumped and kept 5 points away.
‘Orange not as brilliant as previous teams’
At the World Cup in Qatar, Scaloni hopes to be able to boss Van Gaal again, now as a colleague. “The team is not as brilliant as previous Orange teams, but it is very clear what they are doing,” said Scaloni. “It will be a great match between two historic countries. One has to leave the tournament, but we hope to continue.”
Scaloni has been national coach since 2018. He succeeded Jorge Sampaoli four years ago. In 2015, Scaloni ended his playing career with Italy’s Atalanta. Before that he played for Lazio and West Ham United, among others.
Wenger also praises Van Gaal: ‘He will do it again’
Arsène Wenger thinks it is great that Louis van Gaal has reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup with the Dutch national team. “He will manage it again,” said the 73-year-old Frenchman, former Arsenal coach, who is now head of football development at FIFA and looked back on the group stage on Sunday.
Wenger referred to the elimination of the Orange last summer, in the eighth finals of the European Championship against the Czech Republic (0-2). “Van Gaal knows what he is doing, he has a lot of experience,” said Wenger, who sees that the Netherlands does not play as offensively as in a somewhat more distant past. “But it works for him, it’s very efficient.”
In his long period as manager of Arsenal, Wenger always let his teams play attacking football. That resulted in the necessary prizes in his first years, but not anymore in recent years. Wenger refused to condemn Orange’s way of playing football. “I have a lot of respect for what he does, apparently he is doing something special. Van Gaal has again succeeded with the Netherlands in reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup.”