The head coach of the Netherlands national team, Louis van Gaal has insisted that the Dutch Football Association did not have someone better than him to be appointed the head coach of the national team.
According to the veteran Dutch tactician, if he was the FA of his country, he would have appointed himself as the head coach of the Dutch national team which he had coached on two separate occasions before he was appointed again this summer.
Recall that Louis van Gaal was the head coach of the country between 2000 and 2002 before he left the national team to coach FC Barcelona.
He was appointed the head coach of the national team again in 2012 after he was sacked at Barcelona, AZ, and Bayern Munich.
Van Gaal performed so well with the national team that he took the country to the semi-finals stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He won the third-place match of that edition of the tournament.
Weeks after the World Cup, he left the Dutch national team again to pick up a managerial appointment at Manchester United. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t last up to three years before the Premier League club sacked him due to his poor run of games.
When most football pundits thought the 70-year-old Dutch tactician has retired from coaching, the Dutch FA decided to offer him the third chance to head the national team. He replaced Frank de Boer who decided to resign after a woeful outing in Euro 2020.
During his unveiling as the head coach of the Dutch national team on Tuesday, Louis van Gaal insisted that he came back to the national team to help the country.
The coach said: “I’m not doing this for myself but I’m doing it to help Dutch football. I’ve always done everything to help Dutch football. I have a lot to thank them for, the status that I have as a coach is thanks to them…
“I think if I was the Dutch Football Association, I’d also have approached me. Who else could have done it?
“It might sound a little melodramatic, but I think experience is now very important because we do not have any time…
“We have to achieve immediately and you cannot do that without fit players… In 2000 it was an honor to be appointed coach, in 2012 it was an honor to serve again but now it is even more of an honor.”
First day at the office ✅ pic.twitter.com/5VV2dnEwLJ
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) August 17, 2021
Louis van Gaal will resume his coaching duties on September 1, 2021, when the Dutch national team face Norway in a World Cup qualification match.
After the game, he and his team will travel to Montenegro to play another Group G world Cup qualification match on September 4. Their last game during the FIFA break would come on September 7 against Turkey in Amsterdam.
Louis over het 'veredelde stelletje sterren'. pic.twitter.com/sVay5Ilw3D
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) August 17, 2021
