The Netherlands and Argentina meet this Friday in the quarterfinals in a match with crossed lives and several outstanding bills
When Louis van Gaal returned to Barcelona in the 2002-03 season, a certain Leo Messi, a short and shy boy, played in the cadet team. Van Gaal had coached the culé team for three seasons (1997-2000), but Joan Gaspart looked to him to straighten out a side that had not lifted a trophy in years. Van Gaal accepted the challenge and returned to Barcelona, although that second leg ended in disaster. He was sacked at the end of January 2003, when the team finished twelfth in the league. In return, he left several sentences for the marble: “We haven’t hit rock bottom,” he replied to a journalist. We can still go last.”
That same year, in the last game of the cadet competition, against Espanyol, Leo Messi had broken a cheekbone. Fifteen days later, Barça played the final of the cup of the category, also against the rival team from the city. The doctors banned Messi from playing, but the Argentine wanted to do it at all costs. They decided to only let him participate if he donned a mask. Leo jumped onto the field with the protection, but took it off again after seven minutes. He said he had seen nothing. He threw him on the bench and before the break, when they substituted him so he wouldn’t get hurt, little Leo had already scored two goals. His teammates from La Masia remember him quietly, sitting in a corner of the locker room. He only spoke in the field.
Twenty years later, Louis van Gaal and Leo Messi meet in Doha. The eloquent coach coaches the Dutch national team. The silent footballer is the captain of the Argentina national team. The quarter-finals of the World Cup have produced for today (Lusail, 8 p.m.) a match with many stories crossed and several open bills. The Netherlands are still hurt by the final they lost to Argentina in 1978, under Videla’s bloodthirsty and ubiquitous dictatorship, although four years earlier, in 1974, the famous clockwork orange gave them an unquestionable 4-0 victory in the semi-finals of the German World Cup. They have since met three more times at the World Cup and in the last, in Brazil’s 2014 semi-final, they drew 0–0, though Argentina qualified on penalties.
“In 2014 we had two exceptional goalscorers (Robben and Van Persie), but now we have more virtues as a team,” said Van Gaal, who was already the coach at the time. Van Gaal had been sacked by Di María who said he had been his worst coach when they met at Manchester United. The Dutch coach took it to heart: «What did that say? He is one of the few players who has that opinion. I’m so sorry, I think it’s sad. Memphis (Depay) also had to deal with that in Manchester and now we kiss on the mouth. Depay, who sat next to him at the press conference, had his head in his hands.
Lives in disarray, current accounts, burning words, drops of humor… The Argentines rely on their leader and the team spirit that reigns in concentration: «Leo looks good, happy, and that’s the most important thing. We really enjoyed ourselves and we all had a good time,” said Alexis MacAllister, a Brighton midfielder who has earned a place in the starting eleven.
The pink cloud in which Argentina lives evaporated a bit yesterday with Scaloni’s anger over internal leaks over the injury to Rodrigo de Paul, whose participation against the Netherlands has been seriously questioned. “The training was behind closed doors and I don’t know where that information came from. I don’t know if we play for the Netherlands or Argentina,” the coach accused the press and especially the alleged informants.
In any case, the very numerous albiceleste fans are walking around Doha in a state of almost religious ecstasy, not entirely justified by the play their team has shown in Qatar. They trust Messi and that Van Gaal doesn’t know how to stop him. “What I am not going to reveal is our tactics. That would be stupid,” said the technician, who continues to talk as if he is punching. The coach’s fierce dialectic only softened when he judged the referee who touched them, Spain’s Mateu Lahoz: “Fantastic,” he said. Spain is one of the countries with the best level of arbitrage in the world.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
