“Facing Louis van Gaal will be a pride. I did it as a Depor player (La Coruña) when he managed Barcelona. He was already an eminence. Everyone knows what he has done for football and how many have tried to copy him. Having him up front will be one of the pleasures football gives you, another is directing a World Cup.”
Lionel Scaloni knows what we all already know: the one with 44 years old He is the youngest coach of the 32 who arrived in Qatar and that fate placed him in the quarterfinals against the oldest, Luigi van Gaal, 71 years old
The trajectory differences are huge. Dutch has an illustrious past: headed to Ajaxwith which he won the Champions League in 1995, but also a Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, among others. Add 20 titles. The Argentine has only one coaching experience, the current one, no less than in the national team, but with a Copa América and a Finalissima won against Italy. Any prejudice about his experience has been buried by the results and by his control of the situation, always dapper and serene, also demonstrating that he was established from the beginning. The team has its own style.
Van Gaal has been a coach for 31 years, Scaloni just four.
The differences in how they are seen in the previous hours are also striking. While a Scaloni has been observed flammableoverwhelmed by leaks from the inside on the physical condition of Rodrigo De Paul, a few minutes before it was possible to see a Van Gal restfulcalm, with a dose of humor that we did not know.
But there are some things they have in common, in addition to Friday’s match which will separate them, given that one will remain in Qatar and the other will return to his homeland. Good campaign unites them with their selections. Scaloni reached the World Cup with an unbeaten record of 36 matches, broken on debut against Saudi Arabia. In any case, his numbers are more than positive: he has been in charge of the national team since September 2018 and to date he has played a total of 54 games, with 36 wins, 13 draws and only 5 defeats.
On the other side, Van Gaal also shows an important balance. Only 4 falls in 63 games in command of Orange which is no longer mechanical. He has 41 wins, 19 games without a loss and only one defeat in his last 47 games.
Van Gaal these days seems quite far from the one that revolutionized football in the late 90s with a 3-3-1-3 formation that he has religiously adopted, among others. Marcello Bielsa and brought him to the Argentina national team. That Ajax won the Champions League against Milan in 1995 and lost the final against Juventus the following year. It was a tactical watch with the best concepts of the DNA Dutch: clean start from the bottom, attacking mentality, constant pressure.
The current one, which many journalists accuse of bolts Dutch style, they maintain that tactical and collective rigor that defines Van Gaal but give up possession of the ball if necessary and focus much more on defensive order and pressure. Now his system is 3-4-1-2, much more conservative.
“We can be world champions”Van Gaal said after beating the United States in the round of 16. “I’m not saying we will be, I insist, but we’re here and we have three games left now. And of course I’m happy to see these players play and it’s clear that I feel very proud of this group.” He also said: “We have an outstanding score with Argentina for what happened two World Cups ago. We still have a bill to pay. I don’t like remembering that, because I thought we were going to win.”
He was the manager of Holland in the last match, the semifinal of the World Cup in Brazil 2014. Argentina won on penalties (4-2) and then lost the final against Germany. The orange team beat Brazil 3-0 and finished in third place.
Another thing that somehow Van Gaal and Scaloni have in common is Lionel Messi. Scaloni always praises Rosario and does not hide that he is the only untouchable in her squad. Without hiding anything, here in Qatar he recognized it “If you don’t ask me, I won’t take it off”when asked if he planned to fill in for even looking after him in a match.
The controversial Van Gaal, who once criticized Messi for not leading Barcelona to a Champions League win in five years, has returned to refer to the Argentine captain in recent days. “In fact, he’s the most dangerous player, the one who creates the most chances and scores them himself, but on the other hand he plays little when the opponent has ball possession. There are also our possibilities.”.
They also have in common angel of mary. spaghetti stated at the time that Van Gaal “He was the worst coach I’ve had in my career”. The Dutchman and Rosario didn’t understand each other at Manchester United, the coach claimed to have lost many ballsThey ended up arguing and Di María had to go to Paris Saint-Germain.
On the other hand, the story with the national coach was quite different, even if he had his difficult moment. Scaloni did not call him on tour after the 2019 Copa América Y little angel, high level at PSG, has raised the tone of his statements. At the time, they met again via a video call and, according to what they both said, “We Both Ended Up Crying”.
The rest is known, Di María had his great resurrection with the biancoceleste shirt, he returned in his best version and scored the winning goal in the 2021 Copa América final at the Maracana. Today he is one of the figures of the Selection and will face Van Gaal on Friday at Lusail Stadium.
Like Scaloni, the youngest, against the oldest to write a new history of the World Cup.
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.