Till date, the Netherlands coach Louis Van Gaal might just be the most successful coach in the 20th edition of the Fifa World Cup as he has savoured success both on and off the field. On the field, his enterprising Dutch side have cruised through to the round of 16 with flying colours, winning all the three group games. Off the field, the future Manchester United manager is quite enjoying the goalscoring exploits of six of his club players with striker Robin Van Persie leading the way.
Following the conclusion of the World Cup in Brazil, Van Gaal will take over the reins of United after a disappointing season under the guidance of Scotsman David Moyes. The 51-year old Moyes, who replaced the Red Devils’ legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, was sacked after just 10 months into his six-year contract.
The Netherlands displayed exhilarating football in the group stage and were victorious in all three of their Group B games, including a 5-1 drubbing dished out to defending champions Spain. The Oranges have scored 10 goals, the highest till date among all the participating teams and all of the goals came from open play, none from set-pieces. The 62-year old Dutchman also grabbed the media attention by slamming world football organising body Fifa over its biasness towards fixture scheduling.
While the English fans were left to rue the disappointment of an early exit after garnering just a single point from their three group games, the only source of consolation belonged to the United fans as six of the club’s players scored for different teams in the ongoing World Cup. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez’s strike for Mexico against Croatia in Group A was the latest among all of them.
Before that, Spain midfielder Juan Mata scored against Australia in Group B, Nani netted for Portugal in the 2-2 draw against USA in Group G, Wayne Rooney broke his World Cup jinx for England in a 2-1 defeat against Uruguay in Group D, Marouane Fellaini grabbed the equaliser for Belgium against Algeria before the former went on to win 2-1 in Group H while Van Persie notched three goals for the Netherlands and is just a strike behind Brazilian sensation Neymar, who has the highest number of goals - four.
With left-back Patrice Evra showing good form for France and the young Adnan Januzaj waiting patiently in the wings for Belgium, Van Gaal could not have asked for a more productive time for his players ahead of the upcoming season.
The Netherlands’ good form coupled with the great scoring touch of the United players, the Red Devils can only hope for salvation once the strict disciplinarian walks out at Old Trafford as their saviour for the very first time next season.