Thanks to Louis van Gaal, the Netherlands went into the World Cup with a lot of self-confidence and with a good mood in the team – and without the ‘Totaal Voetbal’, which the nation actually stands for. Because there was ultimately no success, the criticism of the outgoing Bond coach can be heard clearly.
Hardly any other national coach was as clear before and during the World Cup in his statements that he also wanted to win the tournament as Louis van Gaal. The Tulip General, as he likes to be called in this country, is known for self-confident and striking statements. So it was not surprising that he clearly expressed his opinion that Elftal can also win this World Cup.
And in the meantime, it actually looked like there was a chance. Because although Oranje could not necessarily convince with magic football and absolute, playful dominance, the delivery was made. In addition, the team seemed to be able to maintain a good mood. Many a Dutch selection had failed because of this.
The end against Argentina, on penalties in the quarter-finals, hurts all the more. Because no matter how brave and self-confident the team and especially their coach appeared, nothing remains of this tournament.
This Qatar World Cup was not a success for the Netherlands. And now that van Gaal was not able to coach the national team to the semi-finals or even the final, the criticism at home is loud: after all, they had turned away from the Dutch ideals in football, while no success could be pocketed.
But in order to be able to understand this criticism at all, one has to make a small historical digression. The nation is known for the ‘Totaal Voetbal’ approach. It’s the ‘total football’ that dates back to the 1970s and is mainly due to Ajax Amsterdam and the national team.
In short: A dominant, entertaining and active style of play, which is mostly associated with the 4-3-3 basic order. Again, Johan Cruijff is the name most associated with it. It is a football identity that has not only survived decades and thus many tournaments, but also numerous coaches.
But it wasn’t van Gaal who turned away from this game idea and primarily went for a 3-5-2. It was Frank de Boer who led this upheaval. He already received a lot of criticism for this at the last European Championships. van Gaal, on the other hand, took over the team and saw it as neither necessary nor expedient to concede this game approach a little more than a year before the World Cup and throw everything overboard.
Accordingly, the 71-year-old more or less stuck to this approach. The criticism from home was sometimes drastic. The Voetbal International writes (via oranjefussball): “van Gaal wanted to become world champion so much that he bartered the core values of Dutch football, the offensive, adventurous and creative game. Oranje may not have lost a game under him, but he did Image.”
It goes on to say: “If you throw all your values for the result overboard, you also have to become world champion. If you don’t succeed, you have failed. As the Netherlands, you have to cultivate a culture with which Dutch players and coaches became export hits. “
This criticism has a basis in truth – although it is also quite harsh. The Netherlands have a special relationship with ‘their’ style of football. It is almost a cultural asset that needs to be cherished and cared for. If it is pushed aside, as practiced by de Boer and adopted by van Gaal, then success must inevitably accompany it.
And now that wasn’t the case. Oranje missed out on beating Argentina and progressing to the semifinals. Although the Bond coach was very sure in the days before the game.
That doesn’t mean that the coach’s decision not to have initiated a complete reversal of the initiated style change within a year is fundamentally wrong. Of course, the elimination and the associated frustration and disappointment also play a role in the evaluation of the coach. If the penalty shoot-out had gone well and Elftal had reached the semi-finals, such voices would not have been heard (yet).
And yet it is very interesting to see what a big role one’s own football identity can play in an entire nation.
This article was originally published on 90min.de as a Netherlands criticism of van Gaal: Has Elftal lost its football identity? released.
